Political Quotes

“physicians use a specially engineered radioactive molecule as sort of a nuclear Trojan horse in the battle against pancreatic cancer. The molecule is absorbed by the cancer cells and only by the cancer cells. Once inside, the radiation breaks up the DNA and kills the tumor cell--another amazing tool in the war on cancer. The physicians, technicians and even clean-up crews must carefully dispose of the medium that stored the radioactive molecule and other items that may have come in contact with the radioactive materials. There are strict procedures for disposing of such wastes by hospitals, universities, power plants and research facilities. But, in a way, that waste itself is a Trojan horse, sitting innocently in garages or closets in sites all over the country, waiting to be opened up and released on the public by an act of terrorism or of nature like the recent floods the East sustained, or the earthquakes and wildfires more common to the West coast. Most dangerous would be fire which would put the radioactive materials into smoke that could be breathed by anyone near the fire. Why is this a problem? Because there are only three facilities in the entire country that safely can accept such low-level radioactive waste, LLRW: that is material contaminated as a result of medical and scientific research, nuclear power production, biotechnology and other industrial processes. In 1996, about 7,000 cubic meters of LLRW was produced in the nation.…”