Nuclear initiative fizzles

Proponents of a ballot measure to repeal California's 1976 Nuclear Safeguards Act - which prohibits new reactors until there is a permanent solution to the problem of disposal of high-level radioactive waste - yesterday quietly withdrew their proposed initiative from circulation. Apparently having trouble getting sufficient signatures to qualify, and enough financial backing and public support to pass, they pulled the plug on the effort.

"Nuclear power is the most dangerous technology on earth, with risks of meltdowns, terrorist attack, proliferation, and leaking long-lived wastes," said Dan Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, one of the initiative's opponents. "This humiliating reversal for a proposed initiative to revive it in California is a great victory for common sense. Now the state can focus on safe and sensible renewable solutions to global warming."

Bill Magavern, senior representative for Sierra Club California, said, "California has much cheaper, safer, and quicker solutions to our electricity needs. We should be moving forward with 21st-century clean-energy technologies instead of pouring more money down the nuclear rathole."