So, sometimes, all it takes to change your mind is one little thing. Today, I found my one little thing on nuclear power. Don't get me wrong, I think fusion energy could still be useful if we ever get it working and I always saw fission power as being using alongside renewables, but now? I dunno...
Today, I learned about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and, more importantly, the 10,000 year message.
So, a little bit of context on the WIPP first. Nuclear waste is, obviously, bad. It remains bad for thousands and thousands of years. So, we need to do something with it. Right now, our best idea is to just bury it. That was the goal of the WIPP. It'd be a place to securely store nuclear waste for a long time.
But, while it may be secure geologically, how do you stop people from inadvertently excavating the site? After all, the evidence of human activity that would be left behind would inherently invite archaeological activity, and who's to say someone wouldn't want to drill for oil there? That's the point of the 10,000 year message.
It's a challenging endeavor trying to create a message that lasts so long. Symbols change, languages change or go extinct, and buildings/monuments can be interpreted as being important rather than a warning. Sandia National Laboratory's report on ideas for such a message was quite the eye opening read as to the monumental scale at which nuclear waste is an issue.
Maybe, just maybe, Frederick Newmeyer was right to describe nuclear power as "a mid-to-late 20th century folly" and to describe WIPP as "a
monument to the folly of the nuclear enterprise". Only time will tell, I suppose.
Incidentally, you may be familiar with the phrase "This place is not a place of honor." This report is where that phrase originated! The full context is on page F-49, but I'll post it in a reply here.
Long, full context (1/2)
This place is a message...and part of a
system of messages...pay attention to it!
Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.
This place is not a place of honor...no
highly esteemed deed is commemorated here
...nothing valued is here.
What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us.
This message is a warning about danger.
Long, full context (1/2)
The danger is in a particular location...it increases towards a center...the center of danger is here...of a particular size and shape, and below us.
The danger is still present, in your time, as
it was in ours.
The danger is to the body, and it can kill.
The form of the danger is an emanation
of energy.
The danger is unleashed only if you
substantially disturb this place physically.
This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.
Quite the powerful message, I must say.
I highly recommend you go read the report yourself if you're able. It's about 300 pages and can be found here:
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1279277/
I must say I think that the members of team A that expressed the idea that such a marker system is also an important lesson to the present day are absolutely correct. Like I said, just reading about their ideas was eye-opening. Nuclear waste is a massive issue and not one we can turn a blind eye to.