3 ms·

The issues with all of these things that are pragmatic is that the additive effect of all the little things we have done in the past 100 years over the course o

The issues with all of these things that are pragmatic is that the additive effect of all the little things we have done in the past 100 years over the course of a very small period of time say 10,000 yeas. So 100 fold is significant. Progress and growth is an addiction and we're blinded to any other facts in the face of that. For most of history we have basically 0% or negative growth... then all the sudden you had massive growth say 3-10% each year which was to say the least impossible a few hundred years before. To maintain this sort of monstrous growth you need to create energy and that means pollution... which adds up over time as many of our technologies are based around things that are not natural and don't break down.

lstodd 8y ago
Cesium-137 half-life is ~30 years. So in 10000 years any additives will fade to what, something like 10^-100 of what they've been when introduced?
- devoply 8y ago
  Yes I actually did some more research and it seems that even in the case of Chernobyl this is not a concern in the long run. In that Plutonium is not a concern in general which has a half-life of up to 300,000 years. And most other elements decay after a few decades. So in the case of nuclear meltdowns the concerns are limited to the century in which they happen mostly. https://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/l-3/3-chernobyl-environment.htm#2p0 https://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/l-3/3-chernobyl-envi... https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/r... I still think the issue exists with other contaminants but with at least nuclear energy it seems the long term effects of its use in terms of disasters and even spent fuel are very limited.
  - petre 8y ago
    Except Pu is toxic and accumulates in the bone marrow, compared to Cs which is excreted. Unit 3 at Fukushima was the only one fueled with MOX fuel containing 6% Pu.

lstodd 8y ago

Cesium-137 half-life is ~30 years. So in 10000 years any additives will fade to what, something like 10^-100 of what they've been when introduced?

devoply 8y ago
Yes I actually did some more research and it seems that even in the case of Chernobyl this is not a concern in the long run. In that Plutonium is not a concern in general which has a half-life of up to 300,000 years. And most other elements decay after a few decades. So in the case of nuclear meltdowns the concerns are limited to the century in which they happen mostly. https://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/l-3/3-chernobyl-environment.htm#2p0 https://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/l-3/3-chernobyl-envi... https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/r... I still think the issue exists with other contaminants but with at least nuclear energy it seems the long term effects of its use in terms of disasters and even spent fuel are very limited.
- petre 8y ago
  Except Pu is toxic and accumulates in the bone marrow, compared to Cs which is excreted. Unit 3 at Fukushima was the only one fueled with MOX fuel containing 6% Pu.