Finland built this tomb to store nuclear waste. Can it survive for 100,000 years?

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[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

The problem I have with nuclear energy is that humans will always find a way to fuck up. It's just a bad idea.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

It is. For us human beings, it surely is. But if you've seen pictures or videos from the strongly irradiated areas of Chernobyl, e.g. and take them into account:

"Nature" doesn't give nearly as much about us, as we should give about "her".

Her time-scales seem somewhat incomprehensible for lesser beings like us, i believe.

[–]CanisRex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

no, it is literally our best and only option for reducing carbon emissions while also producing enough energy to continue progressing.

The common arguments of "chernobyl" and "fukushima" are fallacious - both facilities were primitive compared to the technology available today. The chance of a critical meltdown is zero.

The cost vs reward is far higher for hi-tech nuclear fission than it is for wind, solar, and definitely fossil fuels.

[–]package 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

Bizarrely this article does not make even a single mention of Into Eternity, a very interesting documentary exploring how such a site should be marked so that even if the site or its purpose is forgotten, beings of the future will understand that it is dangerous even if those beings do not speak any existing language and even if those beings aren't human.

[–]soyboy77 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Hopefully the human race will have evolved and unlocked the radiation resistance perk by then...

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I will look into it.

In a manner respecting my time to spend.

[–]SoCo 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

The US illegally dumped their Cold War-era nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project in unlined underground tombs in Missouri. They leaked. Then a multi-year long under-ground fire raged in the underground landfill next door. (they don't report about this anymore. I'm not sure how the nuclear leak testing went or if the fire ever got put out.)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/st-louis-secretly-developed-disaster-plan-for-fire-near-nuclear-waste/

https://www.stlmag.com/news/Nuclear-Waste-Closer-Than-Expected-to-Underground-Fire-at-Bridgeton-Landfill/

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-st-louis-underground-fire-20151010-story.html

Lesson: You better dispose of nuclear waste carefully with lots of foresight.

[–]makesyoudownvote 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

This was the beauty of the Yucca mountain waste plan. It was geologically stable and there was virtually zero risk. We had nearly completed construction too.

[–]zyxzevn 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

No. Humans, roots or rats will dig into it eventually.
And it needs to survive a lot longer. Half-life time means that you are still left with half of the crap after that time. And 0.1% after 10x that same time.

[–]IkeConn 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I'll never know but it is a good bet they fucked something up or took a short cut.

[–]thomastheglassexpert 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I like Package note below as I have long studied what there is of "how do we communicate these poison locations 100-1,000-5,000 generations to the future?" Might not even be Earthlings ya know. Space aliens want to dig into history and how do we warn them of this evil shit below? The Finland case makes a statement for no markers whatsoever. None. Cover it, seal it, remove all sign of any construction and just walk away. I like this solution far better than trying to leave markers and signage of some sort. Just bury the shit and forget it to time.

[–]raven9 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Nuclear power was an evil idea to begin with. To Create all of that dangerous nuclear waste just to boil water had to be making some greed driven American corporations a huge amount of money and that was the only reason such a stupid idea ever came to fruition in the first place. There are so many much cleaner alternative methods of doing the same thing using the worlds abundant sources of clean geo thermal energy but rarely does anyone even discuss that because no one gets to make money when the fuel is free.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

And there is a solution, i strongly believe.

Directly between our eyes, so to say.