EXERCISE 13

     Although many governments try to convince their respective subjects that atomic energy is an acceptable alternative _1__ the burning of fossil fuels,no government has taken the least trouble to explain the dangers.Maybe they are __2_ them.__3_ the reason,the public must learn by experience,even though this _4__ may be catastrophic.

     While it is true that nuclear reactors do not produce visible smoke,it is certainly not __5_ that they do not pollute.And the pollution they produce is much more insidious precisely because it is __6_.

     __7_ inconvenient it may be for governments to publish all the facts,they have no moral excuse for not doing so,__8_ they think they are acting in our best interest.At least some of the facts are known,even though they are not widely reported.

     Nuclear reactors produce radioactive water and gases in vast _9__.What __10_ all this waste?It is __11_ concrete tanks and stored on tank farms.It is __12_ in disused salt mines.It is run into fractured rock.It is buried.It is __13_ about in special trains.But even when dumped,it has to be kept __14_ by sprinklers to stop it from boiling.And the contents of the tanks are,of course,extremely corrosive.The efforts of a fracture in the tank or a failure of the cooling system would be _15__.

     While every effort is made to _16__ that radioactive wastes do not excape into the sea or _17__ supplies of drinking water,such a leakage would be too horrible __18_ contemplate.But even then ,governments would presumably continue to belittle the hazards.

     It seems that __19_ governments can get away with not telling the truth,they will continue to keep silent.Nevertheless the people _20__ to know the full facts.Do you know what happens to the radioactive waste in your country?No?Well—find out!