LETTER : Nuclear long shot

Sir: S D C Ostler's letter (4 February) is admirable in its intent. However, if the rocket carrying one of his "small regular consignments" of nuclear waste destined for the Sun were to fail, as in the Challenger shuttle disaster and others, a large area of the planet could be contaminated with radioactive material with a half-life longer than imaginable.

Nice try, but not worth the risk. I propose we stop making the stuff.

PHIL MELIA

Hove, East Sussex