The debates over nuclear waste tend to recur. In May 1956, Lewis Strauss, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, took the visiting head of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Edwin Plowden, on a tour of the Pennsylvania construction site of the Shippingport reactor (a year and a half from its startup). They fielded the press and a reporter had the temerity to ask about the waste. The New York Times reported:
“[Strauss] said today that disposal of waste from atomic fuels presented no serious problem at this stage. Mr. Strauss said the term “atomic waste” was a misnomer.
New York Times. 1956. “Atomic waste no problem yet, Strauss says at generator site.” New York Times, May 8.
He noted, however, that there might be disposal problems when atomic-electric plants became general throughout the country.
But, he added, “I suspect there will be very many by-products” from the spent atomic fuel. He did not elaborate on what these might be.
Hamblin, Jacob D. 2007. 2007. “‘A dispassionate and objective effort’: Negotiating the first study on the biological effects of atomic radiation.” Journal of the History of Biology 40 (Mar.), pp. 168-169.
