How do you leave a warning that lasts as long as nuclear waste?

Burying radioactive waste is widely seen as the safest way to dispose of it. Researchers are exploring how we tell future generations about the decisions we make today.

In January 1997, the crew of a fishing vessel in the Baltic Sea found something unusual in their nets: a greasy yellowish-brown lump of clay-like material. They pulled it out, placed it on deck and returned to processing their catch. The next day, the crew fell ill with serious skin burns. Four were hospitalised. The greasy lump was a substance called yperite, better known as sulfur mustard or mustard gas, solidified by the temperature on the sea bed.

At the end of the World War II, the US, British, French and Soviet authorities faced a big problem – how to get rid of some 300,000 tonnes of chemical munitions recovered from occupied Germany. Often, they opted for what seemed the safest, cheapest and easiest method: dumping the stuff out at sea.

Estimates are that at least 40,000 tonnes of chemical munitions were disposed of in the Baltic Sea, not all of it in designated dumping areas. Some of these locations are marked on shipping charts but comprehensive records of exactly what was dumped and where do not exist. This increases the likelihood of trawler crews, and others, coming into contact with this dangerous waste.

The problem isn’t going to go away, especially with increased use of the sea floor for economic purposes, including pipelines, sea cables and offshore windfarms.

The story of those unlucky fishermen illustrates two points. First, it is difficult to predict how future generations will behave, what they will value and where they will want to go. Second, creating, maintaining and transmitting records of where waste is dumped will be essential in helping future generations protect themselves from the decisions we make today. Decisions that include how to dispose of some of today’s most hazardous material: high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.

Reference:

An introduction to Cigéo and the concept of geological repositories for nuclear waste.
Information from Public Health England about radiation doses.
Information from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the effects of radiation exposure and contamination.
The Human Interference Task Force’s 1984 technical report into reducing the likelihood of future human activities that could affect geological repositories.
Sandia National Laboratories’ 1993 report into using markers to deter inadvertent human intrusion into repositories.
Website for the landmark 2014 Verdun conference organised by the Nuclear Energy Agency with the support of Andra, on the preservation of records, knowledge and memory of radioactive waste across generations.
Overview of the Nuclear Energy Agency’s ongoing project: Preservation of Records, Knowledge and Memory (RK&M) across Generations.
Overview of Andra’s memory programme (in French).

Category:	Environment

Attribution

The source of this flipbook:
Helen Gordon. (2019, September 10). How do you leave a warning that lasts as long as nuclear waste? Mosaic Science. https://mosaicscience.com/story/how-do-you-leave-warning-lasts-long-nuclear-waste/
This article first appeared on Mosaic and is republished here under a Creative Commons licence.

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How do you leave a warning that lasts as long as nuclear waste?

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Burying radioactive waste is widely seen as the safest way to dispose of it. Researchers are exploring how we tell future generations about the decisions we make today.

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