Chapter 8.4, Problem 38E

Nuclear Waste The table gives the heavy metal nuclear waste (in thousands of metric tons) from spent reactor fuel stored temporarily at reactor sites, awaiting permanent storage. (Source: “Burial of Radioactive Nuclear Waste under the Seabed,” Scientific American, January 1998. p.

Heavy MetalNuclear Waste
Yearx	WasteY
1995	32
2000	42
2010	61
2020*	76
*Estimate by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Let $x=0$ represent 1995, $x=5$ represent 2000, and so on.

(a) Use (0, 32) and (25, 76) to find the equation of a line that approximates the other ordered pairs. Use the form $f(x)=ax+b$.

(b) Use the equation from part (a) to estimate the amount of nuclear waste in 2018.