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Back in high school, we took a tour of the Savannah River Site (this was allowed in the late 70's). We saw things mostly by driving by in a tour bus, but we did

by chiph 10y ago

Back in high school, we took a tour of the Savannah River Site (this was allowed in the late 70's). We saw things mostly by driving by in a tour bus, but we did get to go into a few buildings, and try out a remote manipulator system (harder than it looks to get good with it). The relevant part was the waste processing area, which had a smokestack (presumably for power). Painted eighty or a hundred feet up was a large stripe. The guide said that that was how deep they were going to bury the building once it had reached end of life. Having just watched "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" I could imagine a future where explorers go down the stack because they were attracted by the 50+ feet that would remain above ground. Curiosity is hard to fight.

csmattryder 10y ago
Just like the Star Trek TNG episode "Clues". Humans are a far too curious species for any smoking guns to be left around. I agree with you, our successors will question why there's a tunnel in the ground, why a painted stripe appears within the tunnel, and for what purpose the tunnel was hidden. Though I'm incredibly pessimistic about our future, no matter what signs and warning we give, human curiosity wants to know for what substance those warnings are there to dispel people from, and human greed will ironically want to claim it all.
coddingtonbear 10y ago
You might be surprised, but you can probably still get a tour of the Savannah River Site (as long as you're a citizen). I know this because I took a tour of it's sister site in Hanford, WA a year or so ago, and would totally recommend it.
- mjevans 10y ago
  I've heard that many tours of facilities are less in-depth than they would have been pre... recent notable historic events in the US. I am thankful that I got to see the depths of major hydro-electric facilities in my home state as a child. They inspired awe and wonder in our ability to engineer massive things; though such words were not at all within my vocabulary at that age.
envy2 10y ago
You can still get a tour today: http://www.srs.gov/general/tour/public.htm http://www.srs.gov/general/tour/public.htm

by chiph 10y ago

csmattryder 10y ago

Just like the Star Trek TNG episode "Clues". Humans are a far too curious species for any smoking guns to be left around. I agree with you, our successors will question why there's a tunnel in the ground, why a painted stripe appears within the tunnel, and for what purpose the tunnel was hidden. Though I'm incredibly pessimistic about our future, no matter what signs and warning we give, human curiosity wants to know for what substance those warnings are there to dispel people from, and human greed will ironically want to claim it all.

coddingtonbear 10y ago

You might be surprised, but you can probably still get a tour of the Savannah River Site (as long as you're a citizen). I know this because I took a tour of it's sister site in Hanford, WA a year or so ago, and would totally recommend it.

mjevans 10y ago
I've heard that many tours of facilities are less in-depth than they would have been pre... recent notable historic events in the US. I am thankful that I got to see the depths of major hydro-electric facilities in my home state as a child. They inspired awe and wonder in our ability to engineer massive things; though such words were not at all within my vocabulary at that age.

envy2 10y ago

You can still get a tour today: http://www.srs.gov/general/tour/public.htm http://www.srs.gov/general/tour/public.htm