Nuclear Polyticks

[windhound]

You're assuming no one is going to touch these things for 10k years nev
People will know its there. If the scientists 500 years from now determine that the casing will deteriorate in a thousand years they can do something about it
The waste is already made, something has to happen to it

And... well, yeah Beatles. Nevada probably doesn't like being the nuclear dumping ground for the whole US, while France is quite content with nuclear, using it for 80% of its power according to the wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

eck. just ran across somthin on slashdot

    Over the past few decades, however, a series of studies has called these stereotypes into question. Among the surprising conclusions: the waste produced by coal plants is actually more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts. In fact, fly ash--a by-product from burning coal for power--contains up to 100 times more radiation than nuclear waste.

    At issue is coal's content of uranium and thorium, both radioactive elements. They occur in such trace amounts in natural, or "whole," coal that they aren't a problem. But when coal is burned into fly ash, uranium and thorium are concentrated at up to 10 times their original levels.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste
also, http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html
slashdot- http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=431956&cid=22201984 , http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=431956&cid=22201954

[bjornredtail]

All things considered, you have to notice that the link critical of it is from the state of Nevada, which has a lot at stake politically in this issue. The French article doesn't seem pessimistic.

And those arguing in favor of nuclear power and a Nevada nuclear waste dump don't have a lot at stake politically?

Furthermore, geologists from the State of Nevada are likely to know the Basin and Range better than anyone else. They grew up there, they were educated there. Who better to give a geological assessment of an area?

Finally, does this necessarily negate their argument that water does penetrate the mountain and in time will dissolve the nuclear casks stored there?

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains an online database of fly ash–based uranium content for sites across the U.S. In most areas, the ash contains less uranium than some common rocks. In Tennessee's Chattanooga shale, for example, there is more uranium in phosphate rock

From Windhounds' scientific American Article... Okay.... That seems to contradict the first few lines of the article.

  You're assuming no one is going to touch these things for 10k years nev
People will know its there. If the scientists 500 years from now determine that the casing will deteriorate in a thousand years they can do something about it

They are planning to seal the facility. So, no access for monitoring or maintenance. You are also assuming that there is going to be someone who cares in 500 years. The United States may not exist then...

[Freenhult]

"The United States may not exist then..."

Then theres no big worry!

[bjornredtail]

What... People will still live here, it just might be under a different, and possibly foreign government. One that doesn't care about the wellbeing of the citizens of Nevada (or rather, cares less than the current government about the wellbeing of the citizens of Nevada). Or we could forget about the dump entirely... Loose it's location. In even 500 years a LOT can happen.

[windhound]

I already asked what method they were using to 'seal' the mountain
if its its 100 tonnes of rubble infront of the entrance then fine. future generations can brush it aside and do maintenance if needed. if they push rubble / cement / etc -into- the tunnels then we have an issue
But if nothing else, they could tunnel in through the mountain and get to the stuff. It just levels of difficulty, nothing that close to the surface is impossible to get at.

We can lose a lot of stuff
A mountain full of radioactive material? not so much
If nothing else, fly a plane with a geiger counter around till you find it

If a foreign gov't takes over and doesnt care about a nuclear mountain leaking crud into the environment, the people there have more to worry about

a lot /can/ happen in 500 years. odds are fairly decent we'll even have a better way to recycle our waste from years past, including nuclear

[bjornredtail]

I'm having a hard time finding specific information on this (government web design), but I think they are going to backfill the entrance tunnels. So, no, we will not have a particularly good way of getting back in there.

[Nuclear Raunch]

what exactly is the problem with nuclear?

Psychologists and psychiatrist have ondered this question for years, and if you have 200 different shrinks discussing what's wrong with ole Nukey you'll get 201 different answers. As it relates to FAF I think Nukes biggest problem is that his hard drive crapped out on him and when he got it resolved he was working too much to come around.

So ehhh, what's up doc?

[The Beatles]

We're slowly fixing stuff. Nice to see you around again! Also, Monty Python is still funny.

[windhound]

201 answers? then one of the docs is a schizo = P

Shame about the harddrive, hate it when they do that... I've got a few spare laying around just incase

I just recently watched Life of Brian again... rather good