By EUGENE J. McCARTHY

By EUGENE J. McCARTHY

The problem of the disposal of Rappahannock County’s trash may • seem to be a projblem of only limited ! and local interest. It is much more. It is part of a world problem, one which, in many respects, is more complicated and sophisticated — but no more difficult to solve — than that of Rappahannock.

The most serious national waste disposal problem is that of radioactive materials left over from plants generating nuclear energy and bombs. The search for a repository for this dangerous waste began thirty years ago. The selection process in its beginning used established reasoned scientific standards. This process, known as “the first round,” turned up three possible sites: one in Washington State, one in Nevada, and one in Texas. The more recent round choices have been depersonalized and depoliticized, being made by computers which point to depositories in Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Virginia. Spokespersons for the chosen states have been unimpressed by the impartiality of the computers. Culpeper County’s “Black Jack” soil has not been designated despite its characteristics of neutrality and imperviousness.

Suggestions have been made that nuclear waste be exported. One report has it that the Chinese Communist government has offered to accept it, in somewhat the same manner that the Japanese accepted tiie remains of American automobiles before World War II. The Chinese offer has not been accepted.

Another national problem involving temporary containment is that of prison population which according to judges is too great for existing jail and prison facilities in many jurisdictions. The District of Columbia is a prime example. Its attempt to ship prisoners to a free-enterprise prison in Pennsylvania was cut short, after a short stay, by the Pennsylvania government. District prisoners appeared to be doomed, at least for