Mabden said:
But let's imagine that the water somehow breaks through the seal
created by the clay. Well, next it encounters the metal casing, which
is designed to be very resistant to corrosion. One of the favorite
materials for the casing is a titanium alloy. Tests conducted in a
abnormally corrosive solution kept at 450 degrees F indicate that it
would survive under those conditions for a thousand years, but in
normal groundwater at the expected repository temperature of 250
degrees F, the casings would retain their integrity for hundreds of
thousands of years.
But what if somehow the groundwater got past all these barriers and
actually reached the waste?
Let's imagine another scenario where humans tear apart the storage. I mean,
we are talking about 10,000 years minimum, aren't we?
I mean, have you heard the music they're playing today... ;-)
[The above is about nuclear waste disposal]
Now consider the recently passed Y2K problems, which largely
revolved around software written and used for 25 years, with
source and documentation forgotten. Look at people trying to find
20 year old software on alt.folklore.computers and comp.os.cpm.
Do you really think that knowledge about care and treatment of
nuclear dump facilities is going to last for 10,000 years? Should
any posted signs survive, the language in which they are written
probably will not.
Or 10,000 years from now future archaeologists are excavating
sites to find out what happened to what appeared to be a burgeoning
population 5000 years ago - similar to how we try to figure out
things about ancient Egypt and how the pyramids were built.
They find the sealed concrete bunker and think "something important
must be sealed in there". They open it up, get exposed to
radiation, and it's like the stories you hear of the curse of the
ancient pharohs put upon those who disturb the graves.
Read "A Canticle For Liebowitz" to get another view of discovering
things from the past in the future.
Bill
After doing two years of study on the effects of nuclear waste and
management, and also coming from a town that was known all over the
world for its mass Uranium Production from the early 1950's to the
late 1990's, I can say with all confidence that there is no technology
developed yet that can protect the environment, nor us from the deadly
effects of nuclear radiation and poisoning. My Home Town - Elliot Lake
Ontario, Canada, was formerly known as the Uranium Capital of the
World - and we had over 2 dozen mines operational at one point or
another - drudging up uranium Ore, refining it to its proper weight,
then shipping it off to the US government R and D dept for development
into your chemical weapons and nuclear bombs - and the waste is still
on site, sitting in tailings ponds to this day. Even though the Pure
Ore has been shipped off, studies have shown that 6/7th of the
radioactive material still exists in the tailings, which are outside,
sitting around the old reclaimed mine sites, waiting for someone to
come and clean it up. Which means that the area is still very
radioactive, and there is runoff to deal with as well. The Point is,
if anyone tells you we have the technology to contain radioactive
material 'SAFELY', you can laugh in their face - cuz its BS - if that
was the case, hundreds of federal governments around the world would
already have forked over the BILLIONS of dollars needed to develop and
maintain the technology, and be using it to store and maintain all
their nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, and more importantly, the
waste created after using the pure Uranium Ore - isotopes 235 and 238.
I hope this has shed some light on the subject - it really opened my
eyes when I did the study for my undergrad, and to think this was all
happening in my backyard all these years....
Manny
