[natmaka]

> we don't seek unanimity before proceeding with something.

> this is a settled matter since at least 1972

This is an opinion. My (dissenting) one is that the more someone is or could be impacted, the more we have to take his/her opinion into account.

> Disposal of small amounts of radioactive material at sea and into the air happens

It doesn't imply that it is an adequate way to dispose of it.

> An international convention does not settle the science behind ocean disposal

"The main objective of the London Convention is to prevent indiscriminate disposal at sea of wastes that could be liable for creating hazards to human health; harming living resources and marine life; damaging amenities; or interfering with other legitimate uses of the sea." ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Convention_on_the_Preve... )

> The lack of supporters perhaps reflects the difficulty in carrying out such research, and the problems of trying to change international agreements.

Nuclear-waste long-term repositories projects are very expensive and difficult (to the point of many attempts failing flat) everywhere, therefore attempting to convince that ocean-dumping is OK would be useful.

[chickenbig]

> > > AFAIK no expert now states that ocean disposal is OK

> > Disposal of small amounts of radioactive material at sea and into the air happens

> It doesn't imply that it is an adequate way to dispose of it.

My point is that ocean disposal of radioactive material still happens, and experts are OK with this legal activity happening.

> the more someone is or could be impacted, the more we have to take his/her opinion into account

How do we take into account the unborn generations? Or the unemployed created by high energy prices?

[natmaka]

> ocean disposal of radioactive material still happens, and experts are OK

As far as I know ''certain Annex I materials dumping may be permissible if present only as "trace contaminants" or "rapidly rendered harmless"'' ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Convention_on_the_Preve... ), that is to say we are far, far away from the massive (hundred of tons) dumps from the previous era ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_disposal_of_radioactive_... ).

> take into account the unborn generations?

This is by definition impossible. We may consider opinions of the current generation as reasonable approximations.

> Or the unemployed created by high energy prices?

It could be an argument in presence of a consensus promoting a single way to establish the total cost of a given type of energy source. There isn't, and it doesn't come as a surprise as some unpredictable event (nuclear major accident, nuclear waste wandering in some populated area...) may hugely raise the total cost.

Moreover the total production cost (LCOE) of renewables is already way (and more and more) below nuclear's, and there is no consensual way to assess the cost of firming those sources (cancelling the effects of 'intermittency' on production). Add the general movement towards decentralization...

Nowadays the low-and-ever-lowering-LCOE of renewables more and more threatens the very business model underlying the nuclear industry which finds its foundation in a high load factor.

[chickenbig]

> we are far, far away from the massive (hundred of tons) dumps from the previous era

Mass of material dumped is not the same as radioactivity or potential harm caused. It looks as if "de minimis" is the key phrase in the convention, in Annex 1.3 . However the IAEA defines "de minimis" in terms of effective dose to people (10 microSieverts/year) per [1] page 14. So point still stands, some level of radioactivity being discharged to the sea is deemed acceptable by experts. If it can be shown that radioactive materials will leach out of the containers very slowly, can this "de minimis" still be met.

> We may consider opinions of the current generation as reasonable approximations.

So we should be able to vote on it?

> Nowadays the low-and-ever-lowering-LCOE of renewables more and more threatens the very business model underlying the nuclear industry which finds its foundation in a high load factor.

Intermittent generators also suffer from cannibalisation (duck curve and all of that), hence the need for subsidies and/or guaranteed prices.

[1] https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/te_244_web.pd...

[natmaka]

> some level of radioactivity being discharged to the sea is deemed acceptable by experts

Doses now tolerated are way below those of ancient dumps. This is a classic ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dose_makes_the_poison )

I wrote "we are far, far away from the massive (hundred of tons) dumps from the previous era" to subsume it.

Moreover the whole Linear No-Threshold and bioaccumulation of radioisotopes debate is far from settled, therefore some experts judge even low doses too dangerous.

> we should be able to vote on it?

IMHO yes. At the very least every citizen paying for it or exposed to some risk has a vote. Direct democracy and referendums let any of them take part, and experts have to convince a majority.

> need for subsidies and/or guaranteed prices

It mainly is an effect of (past and current) massive subsidies granted to other types of energy sources (nuclear, fossil fuels...), the difficult struggle of incoming quickly evolving tech (photovoltaic, wind turbines...) versus amortized plants, and the insufficient amount of energy-storage deployed equipment.

All those burdens are (slowly, this is heavy industry stuff) vanishing and it (more and more quickly) becomes perceptible: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-fossil-renewa...

[chickenbig]

> Doses now tolerated are way below those of ancient dumps.

Do those old dumps generate high doses? Is there evidence of the high doses generated, and if so why isn't this on the wikipedia page? I'm not able to tell whether the dose from an old dump is higher than that from a fuel fabrication, reprocessing plant or nuclear power station.

> therefore some experts judge even low doses too dangerous

One wonders how they get to conferences. Also whether they think about the difference between timber framed and brick buildings, or the background radiation when deciding where to move to.

[natmaka]

> Do those old dumps generate high doses?

Nobody knows. A new exploration campaign is running (named 'Nodssum' https://www.myscience.org/news/2025/dechets_radioactifs_une_... ), targeting North-Atlantic zones.

> Is there evidence of the high doses generated, and if so why isn't this on the wikipedia page?

AFAIK it now is forbidden to dump highly dangerous waste in non-negligible amounts in the ocean not because there was some accident, but because experts judged that it may trigger one. An approach is to advocate the "let's do whatever please until something breaks", another one is to think about potential consequences THEN to decide.

> dose from an old dump is higher than that from a fuel fabrication, reprocessing plant or nuclear power station.

Those contexts are way more under human-control than an ocean floor.

> One wonders how they get to conferences.

This is a weird way to describe a real, ancient (and IMHO growing, since Fukushima) controversy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_no-threshold_model#Cont...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis#Proposed_me...