Alan Weisman's new book about a post-human world, "The World Without Us," is compelling. Although the book doesn't mention Yucca Mountain, it forced me to consider how we can communicate to post-nuclear holocaust creatures to stay away from Yucca Mountain, if a nuclear dump is built there.
All articles I've ever seen about plaques at Yucca Mountain assume a literate creature is reading them. What, though, if the creature is a Neanderthal-type that now peers at us through museum glass? How do we communicate to it the lethality of a Yucca Mountain repository?
Putting fences around Yucca would do no good because those evaporate in a nuclear blast. How do we protect that creature from the killing radiation at Yucca Mountain? Or do we care?
Ron Bourgoin, Rocky Mount, N.C.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy