Everyone bears responsibility for nuclear waste, Switzerland's energy minister
told an international conference in Bern October 15.

Moritz Leuenberger has not been favorable to nuclear power, but told the
meeting on geological repositories that "collective responsibility" --
including both those who have favored and those who have opposed the
technology -- "should take precedence over individual attitude." He said a
repository implementation process must be transparent and provide time for
pubic participation, since finding a safe solution "will take time."

Some 200 participants from 19 countries are at the two-day conference
sponsored by the IAEA, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, the European Commission
and EDRAM, the International Association for Environmentally Safe Disposal of
Radioactive Materials. It was organized by Swiss radwaste management
cooperative Nagra. More information is at http://www.nagra.ch.