Day: July 11, 2002

At lunch, I thought I might take along my camera and try to catch a little of Arts Fest, currently underway in the center of town (and probably spread out in all directions on campus, too, if previous years are anything to go by). Unfortunately, it was impossible to find a decent place to park, and so I just drove back to the office and had lunch. The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts is a strange and interesting event. It’s a wonderful atmosphere, and the weather this afternoon couldn’t be better for it, but…well, everything for sale is extremely over-priced. Lots of paintings you’d expect to see on postage stamps, I sometimes joke. Very nice works of art — there are a lot of talented people downtown with their wares on display — but very little you’d really want to buy. Arts Fest draws huge crowds every year, and it’s fun while it lasts, but I’m never especially sorry to see it go.

Thanks to this link (found via This Modern World), I now know that I live a short 12.9 miles from the nearest nuclear waste route and only 73.2 miles from the nearest nuclear waste source, Three Mile Island. Apparently, a total of 3,154 nuclear waste shipments will pass through Pennsylvania on the way to the proposed dump site in Yucca Mountain — although that number skyrockets to 21,225 if the waste is shipped by truck instead of train. Currently, there is 3,950 metric tons of nuclear waste in the state. And at the completion of the Yucca Mountain Project? 4,193 metric tons. I’m no math whiz, but geez. Still think Yucca Mountain is a good idea?

There are also maps of potential nuclear waste accident scenarios, including one as nearby as Allentown (pdf file). But it’s okay, right? I’m sure our government has nothing but our best interests at heart.