WILL The Herald please lead fellow media in clarifying the radioactive waste disposal problem and its relation to the debate about new nuclear power stations? It has two distinct parts.

(a) Historically, radioactive waste has accumulated for more than 50 years - less than 20per cent of it from nuclear power stations, the rest from the Ministry of Defence, hospital X-ray machines and many industrial processes. Whether or not new nuclear power stations are built, the historical waste remains, requiring careful, safe disposal. Let us be clear - if all nuclear power were shut down tomorrow the historical waste would still require safe disposal.

(b) In considering the need to build new nuclear power stations, the problem of waste disposal is a factor. Modern nuclear power generators are more efficient than their 50-year-old predecessors - the annual radioactive waste from a large station could be about one cubic metre in volume. Given the existing, historical, need for acceptable disposal processes, the extra waste from new nuclear power stations would be a modest addition. Any deep underground disposal facilities must have sufficient spare capacity to accept likely future radioactive wastes, not just from power generation but from all sources - until nuclear fusion power and other developments become facts.

Bill Scott 23 Lynn Drive, Eaglesham.