> A fun example with nuke plants is how no-one ever seems to point out
> that when they say it'll take "100,000" years for spent fuel to 
> become
> non-radioactive about 99,000 years of that time it'll about as safe 
> to
> handle as it was when it was in the ground in the first place. (er,
> look up exact figures, off the top of my head)

Not at all true. Alas.

> When nuclear plants are decommissioned it's standard practice to let
> them sit for a few years

for some very unusual values of few

> But more importantly, unlike
> practically every other form of industrial polution tritium is
> guaranteed to become half the problem that it was in ~12 years due 
> to
> it's half-life. You can't say that about lead pollution!

Tritium is a major issue if it's out here and not in there.
BUT Tritium is a straw man. It's a valuable product in its own right 
and if it can be removed for use/sale/storage it will be.
Do you know why your watch is Glowing?
Do you know how your typical H bomb is Going?
Give me a T. give me an R. Give me ... .


> But pesky facts like that just complicate things don't they...

Not a lot. Alas.

...

> What really pissed me off about the whole thing was how her research 
> has
> been, to date, based on a few non-blinded studies

None of us like those who abuse science and fact in the interests of 
personal profit.

More useful would be to quote a few of the many properly carried out 
studies and related peer reviewed papers that do show possible areas 
of concern from non ionising radiation.

A single example, and I'm not even going to Gargoyle for any 
supporting references, is that workers who work in industries which 
generally have high exposure or proximity to electric fields, have 
been shown in some properly designed and executed studies, to in some 
cases show significant (but not necessarily overly large) correlations 
with certain types of diseases. Notably but not only certain cancers 
AFAIR. One Swallow does not a summer make, and correlation does not 
prove causality. But when the Swallows are flying thick and fast - as 
they do at Capistrano and Sellafield, then no matter how imapparent 
the mechanisms may be, I wouldn't raise a family there. But, I'm still 
an electrical engineer. My house is relatively close to an HV pylon 
line - but I walked the area with a field meter and di some careful 
thinking before we bought.

Back to ionising stuff. I have never yet seen a nuclear waste disposal 
proposal that makes assumptions about longevity of secure storage that 
I would be happy with if I knew that my children's children's 
children's children were going to live nearby. Most things manmade get 
very tired by 100 years (1907 car ...). Some few things get, with 
maintenance, cute and very very old and rather worn out at 500 years 
(Venice. Europe) . A few big things have enough big and even small 
chunks left at 2000 years that make them worth going to see 
(Colosseum. Pyramids.) Of the original 7 wonders of the world (which 
presumbly would feature high on the list of things worth maintaining 
for posterity) only ONE remains, and they now won't let you 
touch/climb it AFAIK.

Glass sealed "flasks" at the bottom of the ocean or in deep 
"impervious" [tm] rock tunnel storage have a good chance of pushing 
the known upper levels of human-product longevity, but not overly 
more. And if the assumptions were wrong, the contractors crooked, the 
acts of God just happen and reality breaks through as it always does 
in reality, then too much of the stored-forever waste will be 
gotten-out-of-jail-free after only hundreds of years. Or less.

There are bacteria which can and do live inside hard nuclear waste, 
mine the material, and bring selected bits to the surface. If they can 
do that then almost anything else conceivable is possible.

We don't even NEED to mention terrorism. Hardly even incompetence, 
self interest, corner cutting and the whole of human nature.


Let's see some of those "most nuclear waste is American Apple Pie and 
Motherhood after only 1000 years" references.




            Russell

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