Nuclear Waste

A friend of mine had lunch today with a lawyer-turned-physicist. Well! If he isn't a beast for punishment ... ! As with some brainiacs, my friend included, it turns out this guy is the real deal - he walked away from a life of the law in search of wild stuff. Middle-aged (that's over 50 to you young 'uns), this friend of my friend works for the prestigious Lawrence Livermore Labs, guardians of our American nation's scientific secrets.

Titillated (no, honey, that is not a dirty word) beyond total control, I had to check out their site ... after all, it's what, almost 2 am and I'm not sleepy. I thought this would do the trick, and dull the life outta this mushy brain. Not so.

What a cool website! Nothing less than the following on the home page:

• Weapons and Complex Integration;
• National Ignition Facility and Photon Science;
• Global Security;
• Science and Technology (uh...duh...this one did not surprise me...);
• Working With Us;
• Community Connections;
• Year in Review (with Annual Reports for 07 and 08, no less!).

Yes, of course I'm impressed - here's why: Without much understanding of scientific tech gobbledygook, I get it, this site has a lot to say about how serious Americans are about Science. A lot. The first two bullets above alone tell me they're working on nuclear energy, nuclear warfare (OMG), smart bombs and the kind of science that Hollywood dreamt up in the 60s. The last three bullets (that's probably not a good word choice here, is it?) are kinda weird in a warm fuzzy way ... like "Yes, we conduct nuclear explosion experiments daily, but we still love you ..." You know what I mean?

Oh well, it turns out my friend's friend who gave up a life of slavery with rapacious legal adversaries (who knows what turned him off, right?) for the pure life of science is actually one of those guys trying to transform nuclear waste into positive energy for our children and grandchildren (I heard the going is so slow, it's like Gaudi's Holy Family Cathedral in Barcelona, we'll only get to enjoy the process...).