Nuclear waste and the future

Nuclear waste is a very environmentally clean and consistent source of energy. It would be the ideal energy source if not for the radioactive nuclear waste left behind which continue to remain radioactive and harmful for millions of years after.

Anyone using nuclear sources for energy have to consider the problem of dealing with nuclear waste. Typically solutions so far have involved simply burying them deep in the earth or encase them with concrete and drop them into the sea. In all cases, there is the danger that future humans may chance upon them, and if they do, they have to warned that there is unseen danger there. It is our responsibility to do so.

This is the problem presented and discussed in this podcast and article - how to future proof a nuclear repository for 10000 years time.

I found it interesting because it touches upon various aspects of what makes us humans. The article describes the various options available and the interdisciplinary sciences that argue for or against them. Humans are naturally curious and there will always be some who break the rules - in fact it is a hallmark of our species that we do this. The problem of how we leave an important message to those that come in the future can be better understood by looking at if we have understood the messages that people of the past have written us.

I also loved the "ray cat solution" - it is a little preposterous but I take the main point there being how culture may persist longer than knowledge, how myths endure longer than fact and how stories are what makes people tick.

tags: #culture