Desarrollo de la Antártica

Phillip Law / POSSIBILITlF.5 FOR EXPLOITATION OF ANTARCTIC RESOURCES an Antarctic stop on such an air route. lM'cMurdo would provide merely a check point and emergency landing field. Commercial aircraft at present are capable of routine flights over distances up to 6,000 nautical miles, so that there is no gap to be spanned by technica! developments in aircraft before a non-stop flight from Melbourne to Buenos Aires or Punta Arenas becomes possible. Such a flight would open up a new and attractive tourist route on which the ;passenger travelling to New York would take in the magnificent scenery of Antarctica as well as vhe interesting countries of South America, with very little penalty in distance. Melbourne to New York via Hawaii and San Francisco is 10,500 nautical miles; via McMurdo, Buenos Aires, lRio de ]aniero, it would only be 600 miles longer. McMurdo air field, which is on sea ice, is not manned in winter at present and is not available in late summer. A more permanent establishment, perhaps on the Ross Ice Shelf, would be desirable and sorne other check point in the Antarctic Peninsula would be an advantage, but it need not be so elaborate. Meteoro– logical information for the route is already reasonably adequate. lf aircraft for this route could be equipped with ski-wheel combina– tion landing gear, it would make the question of establishing emergency landing fields much simpler, for the compacting of a runway to take wheels is a much more elaborate procedure than the smoothing out of a snow strip to take skis. DISFOSAL OF RADIACTIVIE WASTE Sooner or later uhe question of the disposal oí radiactive waste from nuclear reactors will become a serious problem in the world. 'rrhere are serious objections to lodging wastes in the deeps of the o'ceans and tlhe best solution at present seems to be to bury them in old disused mines. lIt has been suggested that Antarctica might be the ideal place, because of its ¡solation and sparse po,pulation, for the disposal of radiactive materials of long life. The scientific evidence, recently accumulated, indicating the presence of melt-water beneath the Antarctic ice-cap indicates certain risks would be involved in sinking wases in pits or crevasses in the continental ice sheet. However, rhe possibility still remains of impregnating the wastes in concrete blocks and depositing them on xock outcrops far in the interior of the continent. At present the provisions of the Antarctic Treaty forbid ,the dumping of radiactive wastes in Antarctica.