Raison D’Etre
by Timothy Zahn, Analog (October, 1981), pp. 94-109.
SF short story envisaging an off-books government project where comatose, telepathic/telekinetic infants, kept like battery hens, have their powers harnessed to neutralise radioactive waste. While Zahn presents a challenging moral dilemma, the first-person segments (one subject’s burgeoning awareness) make for laborious reading.