Sir - It seems particularly ironic that the Government should be recommending Harwell as a site for a new nuclear power station just at the time when local people at East Hendred have been protesting about the dangers of the existing nuclear waste from Harwell.

The Committee for Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), after prolonged deliberations, has concluded that while there is no good solution to the problem, the least bad option would be storage deep underground.

However, to find, or create, such a very deep and secure hole, bearing in mind that some of the substances go on being dangerously radioactive for thousands of years, would take decades.

Moreover, local communities would have to be persuaded to accept the presence of such a sinister store in their area. Until then, the radioactive waste would have to stay in its present highly unsatisfactory state on the surface.

Under the circumstances, it seems madness to even consider building new nuclear power stations - especially as viable alternatives to nuclear and coal-fired generation exist: wind, wave, tide, sun, geothermal - which this country seems strangely reluctant to develop, though lately ministers have been paying lip service to them.

They always say these would not suffice. Why not? Surely that would depend on how much effort was put into them.

Irene Gill (Oxford CND)