4 ms·

You can’t predict if that hole will be there for the trillions of years it’s toxic.

throwaway894345 5y ago
> You can’t predict if that hole will be there for the trillions of years it’s toxic. Trillions of years is the wrong timescale. The earth is only a few billion years old, and anyway the nuclear waste won't be radiotoxic in 1-10 thousand years much less 1 trillion. I'm pretty sure the Earth won't be habitable (as we understand 'habitable', anyway) in 1 trillion years. Anyway, climate change poses an existential threat in decades or centuries.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Asmod4n 5y ago
  while uranium isn't that toxic compared to the other stuff it has a half-life of 4 billions years. And while the earth has long forgotten about humans other species will still be endangered by it.
  - qwytw 5y ago
    Still infinitely preferable (even if the number was accurate) to poisoning earth's current inhabitants by burning coal .
  - wins32767 5y ago
    Half-life and danger from the emitted radiation are inversely correlated. Decay is the thing that emits radiation, so if that takes forever, it's not emitting much per second.
  - throwaway894345 5y ago
    The half-life isn't the relevant metric--you don't need the radioactivity to decay to zero (you're exposed to non-zero levels of radiation just walking around outside). You need it decay to environmentally tolerable levels (roughly "the level of uranium ore"). Anyway, far more species are far more endangered by climate change right now than any future species will be by nuclear waste.
  - reddog 5y ago
    So your worried about how uranium will effect the Morlocks and the Elois? Isn't uranium a naturally occuring element that already exists underground all over the globe and has for billions of years?
  - panzagl 5y ago
    Uhh, you know there's already uranium under the ground, right?
    - Lammy 5y ago
      "Kazakhstan number one exporter of Po̶t̶a̶s̶s̶i̶u̶m̶Uranium. All other countries have inferior Po̶t̶a̶s̶s̶i̶u̶m̶Uranium" https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/kazakhstan.aspx https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr...
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
  It's much less. According to [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_Solar_System#Future https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the... and from there on under The Sun and planetary environments we're toast in about 600 million years. Shrug

> You can’t predict if that hole will be there for the trillions of years it’s toxic. Trillions of years is the wrong timescale. The earth is only a few billion years old, and anyway the nuclear waste won't be radiotoxic in 1-10 thousand years much less 1 trillion. I'm pretty sure the Earth won't be habitable (as we understand 'habitable', anyway) in 1 trillion years. Anyway, climate change poses an existential threat in decades or centuries.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Asmod4n 5y ago
while uranium isn't that toxic compared to the other stuff it has a half-life of 4 billions years. And while the earth has long forgotten about humans other species will still be endangered by it.
- qwytw 5y ago
  Still infinitely preferable (even if the number was accurate) to poisoning earth's current inhabitants by burning coal .
- wins32767 5y ago
  Half-life and danger from the emitted radiation are inversely correlated. Decay is the thing that emits radiation, so if that takes forever, it's not emitting much per second.
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  The half-life isn't the relevant metric--you don't need the radioactivity to decay to zero (you're exposed to non-zero levels of radiation just walking around outside). You need it decay to environmentally tolerable levels (roughly "the level of uranium ore"). Anyway, far more species are far more endangered by climate change right now than any future species will be by nuclear waste.
- reddog 5y ago
  So your worried about how uranium will effect the Morlocks and the Elois? Isn't uranium a naturally occuring element that already exists underground all over the globe and has for billions of years?
- panzagl 5y ago
  Uhh, you know there's already uranium under the ground, right?
  - Lammy 5y ago
    "Kazakhstan number one exporter of Po̶t̶a̶s̶s̶i̶u̶m̶Uranium. All other countries have inferior Po̶t̶a̶s̶s̶i̶u̶m̶Uranium" https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-g-n/kazakhstan.aspx https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-pr...
LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
It's much less. According to [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the_Solar_System#Future https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_and_evolution_of_the... and from there on under The Sun and planetary environments we're toast in about 600 million years. Shrug