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Iceland has the most genius way of disposing of wastewater from geothermal power. They have tons of hot sulfurous water left over that needs to go somewhere, b

Iceland has the most genius way of disposing of wastewater from geothermal power. They have tons of hot sulfurous water left over that needs to go somewhere, but you can't just dump it in the ocean or environmentalists would get all mad. And you can't dump it on the land because it'll leave this ugly white stain as the minerals leach out. So they dump it all in to this big pool out by the airport and call it The Blue Hole and have busloads of tourists lining up waiting to pay $50 to swim in it. Genius. One day somebody will figure out how to do this same trick with nuclear waste and we'll have our power needs sorted forever.

hugi 10y ago
Who wouldn't like to visit Three Mile Island's own Green Lagoon. For that healthy glow. Makes you positively luminous.
rimantas 10y ago
Interestingly enough, you can get less radiation from diving in the spent fuel pool than being in open air: https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/
AnthonBerg 10y ago
Bathing in said runoff is an effective treatment for psoriasis :) https://scholar.google.is/scholar?hl=en&q=blue+lagoon+psoriasis&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp= https://scholar.google.is/scholar?hl=en&q=blue+lagoon+psoria...
avar 10y ago
It sounds like your mostly being facetious, but in the interest of historical accuracy: The Blue Lagoon started as just a runoff from the power plant, it's only later after the natives had been bathing there for free for a while for free that it turned commercial.
- idlewords 10y ago
  On my visit there, the bus driver told us the local teens had been swimming in it and causing a nuisance, until someone had the bright idea to put a hotel next to it and make it a spa. It's proximity to the airport makes it especially attractive to tourists who want to soak for a few hours in the middle of a transatlantic flight. Go there if you can; it's fun!
  - hugi 10y ago
    As one of the teens that used to be a nuisance, I agree. The old lagoon had a certain magic to it, though. Even if you'd usually leave it both burnt from sudden surges of warm water and bloody from knife-sharp lava.
    - idlewords 10y ago
      I would love to read anything you have to write about being a ne'er-do-well teenager in Iceland back then.

hugi 10y ago

Who wouldn't like to visit Three Mile Island's own Green Lagoon. For that healthy glow. Makes you positively luminous.

rimantas 10y ago

Interestingly enough, you can get less radiation from diving in the spent fuel pool than being in open air: https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

AnthonBerg 10y ago

Bathing in said runoff is an effective treatment for psoriasis :) https://scholar.google.is/scholar?hl=en&q=blue+lagoon+psoriasis&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp= https://scholar.google.is/scholar?hl=en&q=blue+lagoon+psoria...

avar 10y ago

It sounds like your mostly being facetious, but in the interest of historical accuracy: The Blue Lagoon started as just a runoff from the power plant, it's only later after the natives had been bathing there for free for a while for free that it turned commercial.

idlewords 10y ago
On my visit there, the bus driver told us the local teens had been swimming in it and causing a nuisance, until someone had the bright idea to put a hotel next to it and make it a spa. It's proximity to the airport makes it especially attractive to tourists who want to soak for a few hours in the middle of a transatlantic flight. Go there if you can; it's fun!
- hugi 10y ago
  As one of the teens that used to be a nuisance, I agree. The old lagoon had a certain magic to it, though. Even if you'd usually leave it both burnt from sudden surges of warm water and bloody from knife-sharp lava.
  - idlewords 10y ago
    I would love to read anything you have to write about being a ne'er-do-well teenager in Iceland back then.