Summary

The problem of nuclear waste is arguably a universal, in the sense that it is produced from both civilian and militaristic applications of nuclear technology, including for those engaged in the nuclear weapon disarmament process. Routley (1987, 29) too appears to be acutely aware of this, where he evoking a sort of reverse-form of his earlier Last Man Example in prompting the reader to:

[…] suppose, improbable as it may seem, that nuclear weapons all vanished, thereby removing the current nuclear fix; for instance, they turned out to be quietly self-destructing, or a massive thermodynamic moral occurred, or nuclear disarmament actually took place. The problem of war would not be thereby removed, and even that of nuclear war would only be given some respite. For the structural arrangements for war would remain intact. Conventional weapons would remain, along with weapons perhaps as dangerous as nuclear weapons, such as chemical and biological ones. Nuclear weapons, insofar as they were removed (for small caches are easily hidden away), could soon be replaced, especially if nuclear power plants remain intact; and nothing would prevent the development of (Star-Wars) weapons more diabolical than nuclear ones.

On the theme of the universal problem of nuclear waste, Richard Sylvan and Val Plumwood drafted a number of considerably longer texts than those that found their way to print.