Argument Analysis 8- "Nuclear Waste"

As pertinent as the topic of nuclear waste is, I don't feel as if the average person really has any impact. It seems as if the world of science that deals with nuclear waste should be left to the physicists, not everyday people. The cause is just but it is way too far over my head to even begin to comprehend the minute details of advanced chemistry involving radioactive materials.

It is obvious that Richard Muller wrote this argument for a crowd of fellow physicists. It is full of confusing statistics and science jargon that gets lost in a jumble to the common human being. After all who really understands the concept of radioactive materials and their half-life? It is not until the portion of the argument titled My Confession that Muller begins to make any real sense. He begins by explaining the consequences of storing nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain which is a valid controversy. However he ruins it by throwing around large numbers and percentages that make the rest of the argument impossible to read.

Clearly this is not meant to be a literary argument but he is more or less writing a research paper and proving scientifically why nuclear waste is a threat to the environment. Muller uses no voice, no style but instead uses his knowledge of the world of physics and chemistry to present a dull and repetitive debate. He has gone overboard on logos and has not incorporated any pathos whatsoever. The last three paragraphs seem to the be the most important since they explain that if the threat was not real, then why are scientists working so hard to fix it? Finally, at the end Muller incorporates something the reader can actually connect with.

Overall, this paper is meant for a different crowd of people. If the threat is really that important to our future, I would think that Muller would write it for a wider audience- not just those that understand upper level chemistry.