Radio-free America: What to do with the waste
One can imagine that future generations may puzzle over the fortresses designed in the 20th century to entomb highly radioactive wastes. Perhaps schoolchildren of the 30th century will be taken on guided tours of the facilities, entering the historic tunnel ruins, speculating about their purpose or about the meaning of the ancient symbols and markers surrounding the giant tombs. Perhaps the facilities themselves have long been dismantled, their radioactive contents rummaged for reuse by societies more technologically advanced than our own. Or perhaps great geological and climatic changes have occurred that broke open the tombs, sending radioactivity into the atmosphere. Such speculation is not simply an idle exercise. The ability to protect future generations from 20th-century wastes is central to the technological and policy debate over nuclear waste disposal. A variety of options - from the imaginative to the mundane - have been explored for disposing nuclear wastes: launches into outer space, burial beneath the seabed, placement in the ice caps of Antarctica, land disposal in deep geologic formations.
- OSTI ID:
- 6673294
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States), Journal Name: Environmental Health Perspectives; (United States) Vol. 102:10; ISSN EVHPAZ; ISSN 0091-6765
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
053001 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Environmental Aspects-- Siting-- (1992-)
056000 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Legislation & Regulations-- (1987-)
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EVALUATION
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
SITE SELECTION
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT