In scenes 4 and 5 two of the figures keep their archaic smiles, unaffected by the poison, but one of the three has a bellyache and a grimace that ends in death.

Maybe such a pictograph will work, for it is an ancient allegory, set in a garden, and marking the end of (nuclear) innocence. Adam and Eve are there, along with a friend, biting into a forbidden future.


Because the WIPP repository is surrounded by oil wells and derricks. I have taken the liberty to add scenes 6 and 7, in which a drilling rig punctures the repository and the underlying chamber of pressurized brine. At 2000 psi, brine rushes into the repository, picks up waste, and ejects water and waste at the surface where it becomes airborne and enters the lungs of the drillers, etc. This part of the scenario has not impressed many humans today and one wonders if would not also be ignored in the future.

It seems ironic, after our efforts, to find that we geologists managed to find one of the few places on earth where geologic conditions and natural forces can blow nuclear waste back to the surface.

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