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Solving the Forever Problem
Nuclear energy is renewable and plentiful. Now, what do we do about radioactive waste with a half-life of 100,000 years?
“This message is a warning about danger,” the warning sign states plainly. “This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed dead is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us.”
2,000 feet below the deserts of New Mexico, the oddly worded do-not-enter sign waits to caution anyone who might stumble upon the vast complex of tunnels, caves, and storage areas it marks.
The underground site was created to contain — forever — the U.S. military’s nuclear waste.
Should some of our future descendants in North America be unlucky enough to discover this particular nuclear graveyard 100 years from now, the sign — and others like it, should the first be made unreadable by age — might be a deterrent.
But what about in 1,000 years? What about in 10,000?
What about 100,000?
What about 500,000?
How far back in history can you go, geographically, from the place you are sitting right now? What was happening 100 years ago at your spot? 200? 500? 1,000?
Unless you are an advanced student in local history, things probably start getting hazy…