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On Thu, Feb 28, 2008 at 04:38:48PM +0100, wouter van ooijen wrote:
> > > Interestingly, humans didn't invent nuclear waste either. 
> > > http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0010.shtml
> > >
> > 
> > Interesting note:
> > 
> > "Once the natural reactors burned themselves out, the highly 
> > radioactive waste they generated was held in place deep under 
> > Oklo by the granite, sandstone, and clays surrounding the 
> > reactors' areas. Plutonium has moved less than 10 feet from 
> > where it was formed almost two billion years ago."
> 
> Interesting, but do keep the base rate principle in mind when
> interpreting this. If long ago a compareable natural reactor would have
> been split up by an quacke, and its content washed into the oceans by
> rain, how would we ever know about it?

We wouldn't. The point is that the above example shows that for the
given conditions that natural reactor was exposed to the granite,
sandstone and clays do a good job at keeping the plutonium and other
wastes in place. You can then use that knowledge, and other geological
knowledge, to make sure that a proposed dump will be exposed to similar
conditions.

- -- 
http://petertodd.org
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