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by defrost 459 days ago
I spent a few years in exploration geophysics.

You stated "[No one] has any truly authoritative knowledge on when (or if) fissile waste will become a problem".

I informed you that fissile waste is already a big problem at multiple sites across the planet, several US sites and Russian sites more so than anywhere else, and has been a problem for > 50 years.

You're welcome.

> you comparison of envionmental radon issues with the problems posed by storing and managing the waste produced by fission reactors is ... well, I scarely have words for it.

That's clearly a minor aside .. you ignored the 70+ tonnes of plutonium waste at Hanford.

Billions have been spent dealing with it to date and there's much left to do and spend to clean up that one site.

Don't strawman the issue, it's a large problem and there are tomes on the subject filling shelves.

Humans do need to deal with radioactive waste, this includes the large dams of radioactive waste created as a by product of rare earth and lithium processing.

1 comments

"Problem" in this context did not mean "a challenging engineering issue to be solved by cleverness and skill and determination". It means "shit dying, ecosystems being destroyed, earth and air and water being polluted, bounds not under human control".
I've been a native english reader for six decades .. your subtextual meaning was not apparent in the comment as written.

Perhaps consider that neither you, nor I, nor anyone else has any truly authoritative knowledge on what is "meant" by third party forum comments and we are all limited to what is clearly written.

If you are truly concerned by the fate of the earth should it become covered in vast tracts of radioactive waste from some yet to be determined mystery source, then perhaps ask yourself could it be worse than when the earth had numerous surface level natural fission reactors?