From J. WOELKI
Apparently Chernobyl was not sufficient as a lesson, because the Pentagon
now wants to test a nuclear-powered rocket (This Week, 13 April). But if
Timberwind is as safe as claimed, why not test it on a trajectory above
the USA from Boston to San Francisco, say?
If something goes wrong, the reactor could be sent crashing into Nevada.
There it would not add much to the level of radioactivity accumulated during
tens of years of atomic bomb testing, whereas over Antarctica it would be
disastrous indeed. Moreover, there is enough American rubbish at McMurdo
already, it does not need any more.
J. Woelki Morges, Switzerland
