Solutions that Create Problems

by Hansadutta das

underground storage facility, Yucca Mountain

20 years ago Congress set their sights on Yucca Mountain in Nevada for a nuclear waste dumping ground.

Associated Press - November 24, 2006 - by ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer -

The dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is planned as the first national repository for radioactive waste. It's supposed to hold 77,000 tons of the material — from commercial power plants reactors and defense sites across the nation — for thousands of years. About 50,000 tons of the waste is now stored in temporary sites at 65 power plants in 31 states. Reid would leave all of it in place.

Originally targeted to open in 1998, Yucca Mountain has been repeatedly set back by lawsuits, money shortfalls and scientific controversies. The Energy Department's best-case opening date is now 2017.

The effort to create a national storage site has already cost about $9 billion, $6.5 billion of which has been spent on Yucca. Four years ago, the Energy Department estimated the project would cost $58 billion to build and operate for the first 100 years. New cost projections are being worked up, and they are expected to total more than $70 billion.

The department proposed legislation earlier this year meant to fix problems with the dump, which is a mounting liability to taxpayers because the government was contractually obligated to take nuclear waste off utilities' hands starting in 1998. Energy Department officials say at least one legislative change — formally withdrawing land around the dump site — is needed before construction can begin.

Reid, however, pledged after the Nov. 7 election that not only will no bill to help Yucca Mountain reach the Senate floor under his leadership, funding for the project also will dry up quickly. Annual spending on the dump that has ranged between $450 million and $550 million in recent years "will be cut back significantly, that will be for sure," he vowed.

Reid said he couldn't single-handedly kill the dump outright, something that would require a vote of Congress and approval by President Bush. But he added: "There's not much to kill."

Chain Reactions

Addiction to Technology by Hansadutta das

For every technological advantage there is also a disadvantage, and that disadvantage obliges us to create another technological program to counteract it, which creates still another disadvantage, which obliges us to create another technological program. We are caught up in a chain of programs to counteract the technological disadvantages. go to story

For every situation there is an intelligent plan. Due to ignorance we take everything for granted. Everything has meaning, but we do not see the meaning, because we have no knowledge. Just like children have no discrimination, no knowledge of what is what. They see everything as an object of curiosity. A microphone, tape recorder, glass and money are the same to them. Similarly, the scientists see everything as an object of curiosity and sense enjoyment—"Let's see what will happen if we do this or if we do that. Let's go to the bottom of the ocean. Let's go to the moon. Let's operate, let's experiment, let's dissect, let's give an injection." Material scientists are creating so many disturbances. Every atom is arranged by the Lord and His agents. At present the scientists are splitting the atom, disturbing the atomic structure, and the result is catastrophic. They are tampering with something that is very dangerous in the name of nuclear energy.

Every action has a reaction, so on the one side we get atomic energy, while on the other side we get atomic waste, which is highly toxic and cannot be disposed of in any way for hundreds and thousands of years. They are doing all this nonsense in the name of science. This is true in every field of activity. On the one side people are enjoying sex, and the result is pregnancy. They eat sumptuous food and drink, and the result is disease. People do not consider the reactions; they only consider the enjoyment. If we consider the reactions, then enjoyment will have no meaning. Birth means death. What is the use of taking birth if death is the ultimate end? Therefore it is not a matter of taking birth and not dying; it is a matter of remaining in our eternal position. People do not understand the simple principle of action and reaction. They think only of the action. They do not see the reaction, or if they do, they ignore it; therefore they are called ignorant.

Man's attempts to adjust to the problems that nature presents create new problems worse than the original problems. They then try to solve the new problems, thus creating more problems. In this way they become entangled, creating solutions that create problems.

Spiritual life means to stop this useless struggle against the laws of nature. While we are young and healthy we should accept devotional service and become purified, making this birth our last. When this term of activities comes to an end, we should not be attached to any material thing, because even a slight attachment for something material will bind us to material existence and oblige us to repeat birth and death.