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With the advent of nuclear
power plants. governments
had hoped that the answers
for sale storage would come
long before radioactive fuel
•
Britain 's Windscale plant:
puhlic service or
environmental disaster?
Why
Overpopulation
Threatens
A
frica
T
he vast continent of
Africa, with a population
of about 500 million. may
seem underpopulated. But its
growth rate is alarming
because it is coupled with
inadequate food production.
The United Nations has
already noted 24 countries
troubled by severe food
shortages.
Widespread drought has
left nurnerous African
countries hopelessly
dependen! upon foreign
relief. An estimated 170.000
people have died because of
starvation during
Mozambique' s three-year
drought, according to
international relief
coordinators.
Famine in the Sahel region
of west-central Afri ca
prompted a request for one
million tons of food for the
eight drought-stricken
nations in that area. "Africa
is failing desperately to cope
with the problem of feeding
its people," warns Edouard
44
was spent and ready for
dísposal. Governments and
researchers are still groping
anxíously for sale and
socíally acceptable ways to
discard the huge volumes of
nuclear garbage.
West Europeans have
been tempted by China's
"Seal" of
Approval on
River Thames
Reclamation
I
n the 1950s. Britain's River
Thames was considered lo
be biologically dead. The
water's oxygen leve! was
essentially zero-a lifeless
legacy of the Industrial
Revolution.
From the end of the 18th
through the mid-20th century,
industrial and population
pressures overwhelmed the
Thames' freshwater and tidal
ecosystem. The ríver
became more akin to a
sewer than a wellspring of
inspíration for the bards and
poets who once sang its
praises.
In the early 1960s.
legislation was introduced
that allowed the Port of
London Authority to regulate
industrial and sewage
díscharge into the river. Strict
Saouma, director-general of
the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization
(FAO).
Africa faces certain
calamity unless measures
are taken to encourage a
major drop in fertility rates.
offer lo store spent nuclear
fuel in China's vast deserts.
The proposals would permit
European countries lo
escape the safety hazards
and political problems of
local storage. China's
proposals, though costly,
are less expensive than
laws and enforcement have
paid off.
An interlinking system of
more !han 450 processing
plants treats 126.2 million
cubic feet (3.786 million
cubic meters) of sewage
each day. Water that once
removed paint from boat
hulls now teems with lile. The
water oxygen level of the
Thames is 98 percent of
normallevels and the
river now supports more !han
100 species of fish.
Swimming and angling have
returned .to the river once
again.
Women in Kenya now give
bírth lo an average of eight
children in their lifetime. In
contras!, the fertility rate of
Western Europe is 1.6;
United States. 1.8; Soviet
Union. 2.4.
While many nations in
European storage
projects.
Europe, however. is not
certain how to guarantee
that China would not choose
to convert the plutonium
wastes into nuclear weapons
for defense at a later
date. •
A few months ago, a seal
was seen swimmíng in the
Thames near the Houses of
Parliament. lt caused a
nationwide stir in Britain, This
was the first seal sighted in
the River Thames in 150
years. The presence of the
Water treatment facilities,
Hampton, West London
flíppered guest feeding on
River Thames' fish seemed
to be the final approval for all
the hard work lo reclaim
the historie river from two
and a hall centuries of
pollution. •
other continents have
stabílized their birthrates. an
annual increase of 4 percent
is not uncommon for some
Afrícan nations. Under the
present system. this poses
an insurmountable task for
farmers. Since 1970, the per
capita food production has
fallen more than 11 percent.
Al the same time. the volume
of food ímports has doubled.
Natural disasters,
unfavorable climate, social
unrest. government
corruption and even
self-destructive government
policies have all been
blamed for the food
crisis. •
The
PLAIN TRUTH