Why The Timescales Of Nuclear Waste Disposal Are Shocking

Spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors is what mostly compromises high-level nuclear waste. It is a small percentage of nuclear waste but it is the most radioactive. Experts say that it is radioactive for a million years and needs to be stored for that long to ensure safe disposal.

Meanwhile, nuclear dump sites that exist currently have planned operations for 10,000 to 100,000 years, which to most humans is unthinkable at even that time span. The Human Interference Task Force was established in 1981 by the federal government to invent methods to warn future generations of toxic substances. This includes visual signage that could possibly be universal symbols of radioactivity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s guidance on what to do with high-level nuclear waste is specific: deep geological burial. In a place where groundwater is scarce, seismic activity is almost nonexistent, and absence of minerals like oil and natural gas. This type of site is extremely difficult to come across, even in the United States. 

Finland is the only country in the world that is beginning excavation on a deep geological repository. America has admitted that the funding we have to cover nuclear waste storage is only a third of what it should be, and limited to several decades worth of protection. After that, who knows?