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I wonder if the phenomenon you're describing is the subtle and often hidden complexity of science, and our inability as humans to recognise and handle that comp
by gnfargbl 2y ago
I wonder if the phenomenon you're describing is the subtle and often hidden complexity of science, and our inability as humans to recognise and handle that complexity appropriately.
In this case, we have the US Army's procedure for disposing of low-level radioactive waste. That process probably says something like "if a thing has been identified as more radioactive than THRESHOLD, then dispose of as radioactive waste." Could the process be expanded to cover cases where the radioactivity is naturally occurring? Probably, but who would then take on the liability if there were any? I'm not sure. What about a case like this, where a naturally occurring radioactive source has been transformed into some piece of equipment that nobody would reasonably expect to be radioactive. Does that need special handling, or not? If so, who is responsible -- the US Army? The manufacturer? The US EPA, even?
It all gets quite complicated, and as complexity increases the risk of a procedure not being applied consistently, or at all, rises quickly. To keep the collective human machine functional, we need to ignore the complexity, and have every radioactive thing be disposed of in the same way.
There are many instances of humans handling scientific complexity badly and coming to poor decisions as a result. A well-known one is declining nuclear fission power stations in favour of coal power stations and subsequently releasing more radioactivity into the environment than the nuclear power stations would ever have done. I'm sure there are hundreds more.
- xattt 2y agoI visited a friend in Elliot Lake once and we stopped at a plaque on the side of the highway to read. A geologist friend came along, and he recognized the formation of the rocks under our feet as uranium-bearing. I had brought my Geiger counter along, and sure enough, these were hot too. As you mention: no warning signs, no caution tape. Being close enough to that in any “anthropoid” setting would require, at the very least, a dosimetry badge. I can live within that cognitive dissonance, but it’s just an interesting observation.
- jjkaczor 2y agoIn vast sections of Ontario, Ohio, Michigan, Quebec (and probably many other areas) anyone with a basement has to monitor for radon gas - it's just a normal part of the environment overall because of the geological makeup. If you can keep a window or two open - it's not so bad - we use an smart bluetooth-connected monitor that I check daily - CO2 seems to be more of a problem than the radon.
- alnwlsn 2y agoYes. Live in one of those areas and "radon mitigation systems" are common. There is a sealed lid that goes over your sump pump cover, and a fan constantly pulls air from it, which goes up a tube on the side of your house and empties near the roofline.
- tecleandor 2y agoRelatively common is the cities around Madrid (Spain) mountains, and then to the west and northwest due to the granite there. Specially because lots of the houses in the area were built with that local granite.
- zh3 2y agoSimilar in parts of the UK (where there's granite) - there's a map of radon-prone areas on the UK Government website. * https://www.ukradon.org/information/ukmaps https://www.ukradon.org/information/ukmaps
- Joker_vD 2y agoWell, what's the alternative? Walk all over the US of A, measuring radiation at every square foot? That's prohibitively expensive even today for a rather dubious benefit: most of the terrain is not (yet) noticeably radioactive, after all.
- xattt 2y agoThere’s no alternative, other than recognizing that these dichotomies exist. A brown bear in the wild doesn’t have any warning signs or set off any alarms, but it sure would if it was in a human-occupied building. Context is key! :)
- alnwlsn 2y agoOn the other side of this you have something like the Runit Dome, which is a nuclear test crater in the Pacific which they filed in with radioactive debris and covered in concrete. It is starting to leak from rising sea levels. But when people complain about this, they are told "oh, don't worry, there's actually far more radioactive material outside the dome" because it turns out they only managed to clean up about 1% of the contamination, and the rest of the immediate area is still covered in fallout.