3 ms·

It's only lethal if you attempt coitus or ingestion.

HocusLocus 7y ago
Before the dreaded HN grey curtain of we-dont-like-you descends on my post... while most of the article is well written, two helpings of TRIPE in this article jumped out at me. I'd expect better from a writer for Scientific American. The first,"the Elephant’s Foot is still melting into the base of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. If it hits ground water, it could trigger another catastrophic explosion or leach radioactive material into the water nearby residents drink." This is ludicrous! The thing is only slightly temperature-hot. Was the writer reacting to that famous jiggly time lapse photo with the waving flashlight... that just HAPPENS to trigger everyone's molten China Syndrome fantasy? More about the photo, and apologies to anyone (like the article's silly author) who thought the photographer had died a horrible death whispering the word, "Rosebud". https://www.quora.com/Is-the-elephants-foot-still-hot https://www.quora.com/Is-the-elephants-foot-still-hot The other piece of TRIPE is a dangerous general malaise of willful containment ignorance. Storing nuclear waste was never considered the best idea, not even in Fermi's day. It is the competent science writer's job to communicate that wringing our poor hands in despair and waiting oodle-thousands of years is not the only option. It is safely contained within our own time frame, and IF we should desire to grind it up and render it with technology we NOW POSSESS with actual means just beyond the corner (bombarding it with fast neutrons, reaping heat energy in the process)to result in a short decay product that is a few hundred years from walk-away safe. Now we cannot financially afford to do that on this day or the next, but that is no cause for a SCIENCE article to fail to remind us that its current dangerous state is from a lack of follow-through and not of possibility. It's not enough to just present the truth about radiation and nuclear energy any more. Too much noise. We must push back at the ignorance and hysteria, make sure the young do not grow up steeped in superstition.

Before the dreaded HN grey curtain of we-dont-like-you descends on my post... while most of the article is well written, two helpings of TRIPE in this article jumped out at me. I'd expect better from a writer for Scientific American. The first,"the Elephant’s Foot is still melting into the base of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. If it hits ground water, it could trigger another catastrophic explosion or leach radioactive material into the water nearby residents drink." This is ludicrous! The thing is only slightly temperature-hot. Was the writer reacting to that famous jiggly time lapse photo with the waving flashlight... that just HAPPENS to trigger everyone's molten China Syndrome fantasy? More about the photo, and apologies to anyone (like the article's silly author) who thought the photographer had died a horrible death whispering the word, "Rosebud". https://www.quora.com/Is-the-elephants-foot-still-hot https://www.quora.com/Is-the-elephants-foot-still-hot The other piece of TRIPE is a dangerous general malaise of willful containment ignorance. Storing nuclear waste was never considered the best idea, not even in Fermi's day. It is the competent science writer's job to communicate that wringing our poor hands in despair and waiting oodle-thousands of years is not the only option. It is safely contained within our own time frame, and IF we should desire to grind it up and render it with technology we NOW POSSESS with actual means just beyond the corner (bombarding it with fast neutrons, reaping heat energy in the process)to result in a short decay product that is a few hundred years from walk-away safe. Now we cannot financially afford to do that on this day or the next, but that is no cause for a SCIENCE article to fail to remind us that its current dangerous state is from a lack of follow-through and not of possibility. It's not enough to just present the truth about radiation and nuclear energy any more. Too much noise. We must push back at the ignorance and hysteria, make sure the young do not grow up steeped in superstition.