Reads of the Week: Nuclear Waste Solutions, Tax Hikes, and Afghan Women’s Education

Each week, we’ll be featuring opinion pieces from the alumni and current participants of AF’s Writing Fellows Program. A few highlights from the past week are below. Do you dream of having bylines like these? Learn more about how the Writing Fellows Program can help boost your writing career!

Long-Standing Nuclear Waste Problems Are Solvable, Research Institute Says by Kelvey Vander Hart (Spring 2019) in C3 Magazine

Nuclear power is a low-waste power source. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, the United States produces only 2,000 pounds of nuclear waste annually at the nearly 100 commercial nuclear reactors operating within the country. Yet, the storage of this toxic spent fuel remains a perennial problem. But what if there were a clever new way to store this harmful material? It turns out the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is working on this exact issue.

Palo Alto, California-based EPRI researches clean energy, works toward technology innovation, conducts worker health and safety research, and can advise on power purchase decisions…

STEP Act moves in the wrong direction for taxpayers by Edward Longe (Summer 2021) in the Boston Herald

This is turning out to be a big year for federal finances on Capitol Hill. Not only are Senate Democrats proposing a record $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, but also a rewrite of America’s tax code that could inflict damage well beyond government revenues and expenditures.

In March, Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced the Sensible Taxation and Equity Promotion (STEP) Act. If passed, the STEP Act would firstly “eliminate the step-up in the tax basis of a decedent’s assets at death. Secondly, the bill would “trigger capital gain tax on the unrealized appreciation of assets.” Finally, STEP would “tax unrealized appreciation of trust assets every 21 years; and limit exemptions and exclusions, including a $1,000,000 lifetime exemption from capital gain tax on unrealized appreciation of assets transferred by gift and at death”…

Courageous Afghan women pursue stalled education through US scholarships by Beth Bailey (Fall 2018) in the Washington Examiner

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, the future looked bleak for Afghan women enrolled in college.

Few give credence to Taliban assurances that women can continue attending college if they wear designated clothing and study separately from men. And female secondary school students were this weekend told to stay home…