In his Dec. 28 Viewpoint, Victor Dricks of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission prints a "response" to my question at the NRC's public forum: Does the NRC have a "Plan B" for the high-level radioactive waste situation, given the volatile politics behind solutions as varied as burial and reprocessing?

Printing the NRC's non-response no more answers my question than did the spoken-word version given to me that evening. It is clear it does not have an answer and will work on it for 20 to 40 years - at which time the storage canisters may or may not be intact, as none has a 40-year track record to date.

The proposed legislation to make radioactive waste permanent at reactor sites is serious. The attorney general of Connecticut, home of the Millstone reactor, is taking it seriously and contemplating action if any location in his state should become a permanent repository.

Someone believes the threat is real; sadly, not the agency in charge of regulating it.

Also, please note the correct spelling of my name, as Mr. Dricks could have if he'd bothered to read the sign-in sheets the NRC asks the public to complete before entering their meetings.

David Weisman President, Alliance For Nuclear Responsibility Morro Bay

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