This commentary is not science fiction. Yes — the thermal effects on salt were studied decades ago. I, too, read the reports and perhaps had an advantage in being able to question scientists at the time as well. Their studies showed that HIGH heat (as is produced by nuclear fuel rods) in the presence of moisture COULD cause even the tiniest clusters of salt solution, called “brine inclusions,” to migrate, and as they migrate, to cumulatively grow through further disolution of the salt beds. There IS moisture near the salt beds. The Capitan Reef extends for miles.

Don Hancock is no idiot. Even the Sandia scientists who worked on WIPP would willingly acknowledge that Hancock was a worthy devil's advocate during the run-up to WIPP. New Mexico was fortunate (is fortunate) to have someone of such dedication raise questions on behalf of the state's citizens.

Your comment is unnecessarily insulting, mean-spirited and rude — not the best way to win converts to your point.

This commentary is not science fiction. Yes — the thermal effects on salt were studied decades ago. I, too, read the reports and perhaps had an advantage in being able to question scientists at the time as well. Their studies showed that HIGH heat (as is produced by nuclear fuel rods) in the presence of moisture COULD cause even the tiniest clusters of salt solution, called “brine inclusions,” to migrate, and as they migrate, to cumulatively grow through further disolution of the salt beds. There IS moisture near the salt beds. The Capitan Reef extends for miles.

Don Hancock is no idiot. Even the Sandia scientists who worked on WIPP would willingly acknowledge that Hancock was a worthy devil's advocate during the run-up to WIPP. New Mexico was fortunate (is fortunate) to have someone of such dedication raise questions on behalf of the state's citizens.

Your comment is unnecessarily insulting, mean-spirited and rude — not the best way to win converts to your point.

This commentary is not science fiction. Yes — the thermal effects on salt were studied decades ago. I, too, read the reports and perhaps had an advantage in being able to question scientists at the time as well. Their studies showed that HIGH heat (as is produced by nuclear fuel rods) in the presence of moisture COULD cause even the tiniest clusters of salt solution, called “brine inclusions,” to migrate, and as they migrate, to cumulatively grow through further disolution of the salt beds. There IS moisture near the salt beds. The Capitan Reef extends for miles.

Don Hancock is no idiot. Even the Sandia scientists who worked on WIPP would willingly acknowledge that Hancock was a worthy devil's advocate during the run-up to WIPP. New Mexico was fortunate (is fortunate) to have someone of such dedication raise questions on behalf of the state's citizens.

Your comment is unnecessarily insulting, mean-spirited and rude — not the best way to win converts to your point.

This commentary is not science fiction. Yes — the thermal effects on salt were studied decades ago. I, too, read the reports and perhaps had an advantage in being able to question scientists at the time as well. Their studies showed that HIGH heat (as is produced by nuclear fuel rods) in the presence of moisture COULD cause even the tiniest clusters of salt solution, called “brine inclusions,” to migrate, and as they migrate, to cumulatively grow through further disolution of the salt beds. There IS moisture near the salt beds. The Capitan Reef extends for miles.

Don Hancock is no idiot. Even the Sandia scientists who worked on WIPP would willingly acknowledge that Hancock was a worthy devil's advocate during the run-up to WIPP. New Mexico was fortunate (is fortunate) to have someone of such dedication raise questions on behalf of the state's citizens.

Your comment is unnecessarily insulting, mean-spirited and rude — not the best way to win converts to your point.

Perhaps you would be interested to know that the thermal effects on salt were already studied decades ago when the first EIS of the WIPP site was completed (I have read the report). The findings were very supportive of a high-heat laden radioactive waste repository at WIPP. More studies must be done with current technology, but you probably want to shut that down, because the science-based results might conflict with the nice fear-based world you live in.

Your descriptions of aquifers in the area is quite amusing and totally misleading. One of the reasons WIPP was chosen because of the inability of water to migrate through the salt over long periods (as in epochal) of time. At the UNC, biologists isolated 250 million year old DNA fragments and cellulose from tiny pockets of trapped water from the late-Permian Period! This water, left over from the ancient sea that covered much of what was the continent at the time.

Thanks to misinformed journalists and writers like you, we are still using coal. Hey buddy, want to pick a fuel source that is truely screwing up the environment? You don't really care, however. From your picture, you'll be dead soon and my generation will have to work even harder to clean up the atmosphere and water. Jane Fonda and her anti-nuke movie were good entertainment and demonstrated the obvious need for safety in the nuclear industry (kind of like “Jaws” warned people not to go swimming with great white sharks). Like “Jaws,” however, her movie and those that idolize her anti-nuke cause have done untold and unintentional damage to components of our environment.

By the way, speaking of the anti-nuclear industry's favorite Jane Fonda flick, you should take a drive over to the San Onofree plant that was pictured in the movie. It sits on (absolutely on the edge) the Pacific Coast with millions living in close proximity. Do you know where the interim storage site for the used power rods are? They sit in a concrete building parallel to the shoreline and within litterally stone's throw of the water. My movie, a combination of “Deep Impact” and the “China Syndrome,” would involve a rock hitting the largest body of water on the planet and the resulting tsunami scraping 100 or so high-rad, one-time used rods onto to the western continental shelf of North America. After the initial extinction events, the level of mutagenic activity in the Pacific ocean increases by a factor of 1000. The United States, reeling from the cost of the recovery effort and international lawsuits, becomes the next poster child for nuclear irresponsibility (as opposed to the nations like France and England).