Foreword Over the past decades, Piero Risoluti has built up an intimate knowl­ edge of the nuclear industry - in particular of nuclear waste man­ agement. In this book, his scientific understanding is apparent - for example in his comprehensive but readily understandable descrip­ tions of waste conditioning and disposal. Moreover, he has also been directly involved in the wider societal and political debates in the nuclear area - especially in his Italian homeland. What shines through in these pages is.his frustration at the lack of progress in im­ plementing disposal concepts that are judged by many to be very safe and his unfaltering drive to improve this situation. To provoke debate, the book is very deliberately written in a po­ larising, black and white style that can easily be labelled as "politi­ cally incorrect" - a characterisation that Piero will probably agree with and be amused by. Criticism is directed equally at "loud­ mouthed and incompetent anti-nuclear environmentalists", the "nu­ clear Byzantium" of the international nuclear establishment, the "in­ tellectual narcissism" of those nuclear experts that dare to admit the importance of societal issues, and the tendency of politicians to "in­ definite procrastination". These are not words chosen to avoid open confrontation of opposing views.