Pregnant woman poses with “nuclear waste” to prove how safe it is in storage

My friend Madi Hilly has blown up the internet over the last two days after posing next to stored nuclear fuel while 27 weeks pregnant while visiting Idaho National Labs. Newsweek ran an article about the pictures that have generated controversy online among the anti-nuclear crowd

Madi has been a tireless advocate for nuclear power for several years, and these photos are incredibly powerful precisely because they are so shocking. The photos are bold, but they are not reckless.

Hilly noted: “I know first-hand how seriously safety is taken within the industry, so much so that it can often feel ridiculous,” she said. “That’s not to say I didn’t receive any radiation from my trip. I got radiation from the flight from Chicago to Idaho Falls, from the banana I ate for breakfast, and from being out in the sun for the photo shoot. However, I got no registrable dose from bumping up to the nuclear waste. The extreme safety of nuclear waste management can’t be faked.”

The truth of the matter is that stored nuclear waste is not a threat to public health, even for people who are touching the concrete containment casks it is stored in. Congrats to Madi for shattering a lot of preconceived ideas about nuclear waste. The pictures say more than words ever could.