When do we get the next one?

  • Umbrias@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    What do you mean hasn’t been solved? Nuclear waste is being processed and stored constantly and with high safety. Not to mention reprocessing which could be done if not for being outlawed.

    • ebikefolder@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      The only permanent storage for high level waste is currently being built in Finland, if I’m not mistaken. Germany thought they had found one, but they have to retrieve all waste because of leaks. Back to square one.

      All we have up to now is temporary surface storage.

      • Umbrias@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        There is deep salt vein storage here in the us actively being used as we speak.

    • ⚡⚡⚡@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      We forgot about the pyramides (4k years ago) and found some of them recently. There is research about how to warn future humans about the thread what turned out to be very difficult, because in 4k years, there have been multiple languages…

      I would not call the status quo a permanent solution. Given the time it takes that stuff to not be dangerous anymore, we have got a temporary solution.

      • Umbrias@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        The pyramids weren’t buried 1km under the surface in flowing salt which will further engulf the waste for geologic time scales.

        Also we didn’t forget about the pyramids. What does that even mean? People have lived right next to them since they were built.

        • ⚡⚡⚡@feddit.de
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Also we didn’t forget about the pyramids. What does that even mean? People have lived right next to them since they were built.

          There are more pyramids than just the 3 of Giza in Egypt… During the last 100 years, multiple pyramids (probably 100s) have been found that were forgotten by humanity. There are discoveries in China, Peru, Egypt, …

          The pyramids weren’t buried 1km under the surface

          Somehow ironic. Yes, the Tomb of Tutankhamun was not buried 1km under the surface. But it was discovered 3.250 years after it was build in 1922.


          Anyway… There is Egyptology, which has the goal to find out what they have done 1000s of years ago, because we did/do not know that. We don’t know who some of the pharaohs are, some pharaohs that are mentioned haven’t even been found. He can read some of the writings, we can’t read all of them. Lots of knowledge was lost, and that’s what you need to realized when you are planning to store stuff for 1000s of years.

          • Umbrias@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yes there are archaeological sites which have been forgotten and rediscovered.

            Nothing you’re saying is a strong argument about self sealing deep storage waste burial sites. I don’t think you realize just how little waste nuclear reactors produce, they’re not pyramids, they’re a few barrels across years.

            • ⚡⚡⚡@feddit.de
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              I don’t think that you realize what can happen in thousands of years.

              BTW, it’s not me who brought up the question. There is an interesting article about it: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200731-how-to-build-a-nuclear-warning-for-10000-years-time

              And also a wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_nuclear_waste_warning_messages

              they’re a few barrels across years

              Germany alone expects it to be 10.500 tons until 2080. And that’s only the “highly radioactive” part. That’s more than a few barrels. And there are more countries on this planet than just the one I’m from…

              https://www.bge.de/de/abfaelle/aktueller-bestand/

              • Umbrias@beehaw.org
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                I’m well aware of the hazards communication projects. Not really relevant to deep salt storage.

                Thousands of years is nothing across geologic time scales.

                Yeah 11 tons is literally nothing. That’s only 575 m^3 of uranium.

                That’s a third by mass of the average single German households trash production across the same time period. And it’s more dense, so less volume.

                • ⚡⚡⚡@feddit.de
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  sorry for the confusion. It’s of course not 11 tons. It’s 11,000 (11k) tons. Germany uses the dot as a “thousands separator”.

                  Not really relevant to deep salt storage.

                  Well, I disagree with that. We can simply not imagine what happens in 10k years or how the planet looks in 10k years. And being sure that none of the many “final” storage places will be opened in the future is naive…

                  BTW, in 10k years, your grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-grand-children will live on this planet.

                  • Umbrias@beehaw.org
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Ah. Even so, that’s less than the trash output of 1000 citizens. The quantity of waste is not very worrisome to me at all, especially considering all the other possible hazardous wastes from other industrial processes.