UNESCO

Chair on Heritage Futures

Nuclear Waste and Heritage Futures

2024-11-19

Reconsidering the Heritage Future of Nuclear Waste Hazards: A Permanent Legacy

By C. Pescatore, Affiliated Researcher and member of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University

The question of “How long and how dangerous is high-level nuclear waste?” is rarely answered in full. Often, people are told that the radiation threat will diminish over time, as many radioactive products decay. While this is true to an extent, it only tells part of the story. The reality is more complex and far-reaching. Spent nuclear fuel is composed of roughly 95% uranium-238 (U-238), an isotope that behaves differently than the remaining 5% components that are much more actively decaying. Although its radioactivity may initially seem insignificant compared to more immediate hazards, over time U-238 will reconstitute its decay chain, leading to a resurgence of radioactive danger.

The radioactivity of U-238 does not simply decrease to insignificance; instead, it eventually increases as it reestablishes its broken decay-family, producing a host of hazardous progeny isotopes. For spent fuel, this increase becomes dominant beyond the one-million-year mark – well beyond the timeframe when many safety analyses have already been concluded. While safety cases often focus on the decay of radioactivity, they overlook the radioactive ingrowth that arises from U-238. This shift challenges conventional thinking and demands a refocusing of our long-term strategies for managing nuclear waste.

The implication is profound: the danger from high-level nuclear waste does not merely fade away. It transforms into a persistent, long-term alpha-, beta- and gamma-radiation hazard that requires sustained vigilance and robust containment strategies far into the future. This enduring risk calls into question assumptions about the timeframe for which safety must be maintained, extending our responsibilities across an almost unimaginable span of time.

Preserving Memory and Heritage for the Far Future

This brings us to the pressing question of heritage, memory, and how we communicate the information about high-level nuclear waste across extended time spans. Ensuring that future societies remember the existence and significance of these waste repositories requires a robust effort to preserve records, knowledge, and memory (RK&M).

One promising approach is the use of millennial time capsules strategically placed within or near repositories. These capsules can carry messages, warnings, and cultural artifacts that bridge the gap between our time and a distant future. Some capsules could be constructed from the same materials as the waste containers and placed within the repository to offer a final, deeply embedded source of knowledge that future discoverers might encounter, potentially guiding their understanding and actions.

Near-surface capsules could further engage communities through rituals of memory preservation and periodic inspections, creating cultural continuity and reinforcing the message of caution. Historical examples like the Osaka Castle Dual Time Capsule illustrate how science and cultural heritage can blend to transmit knowledge across generations.

Photo: Osaka Time capsule monument, Wikipedia, 12 februari 2012 https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Osaka_Time_Capsule.jpg

However, even with the best physical and cultural tools at our disposal, the fundamental question remains: How do we effectively communicate the danger posed by these wastes across millennia? Symbols, language, stories, and rituals may change, but the risk endures. Preserving memory is not just a technical challenge; it is a societal one, requiring us to create a living “heritage future” of caution, awareness, and responsibility – one that future generations can draw upon to protect themselves from the enduring radiation hazard that lies beneath.

Further reading

Research into time capsules was suggested to the Swedish Government in this 2016 report by Pescatore available online at:  https://www.sou.gov.se/contentassets/9ffa0b1ff6954c58ba9e0dd8db733ffc/report_pescatore_10_nov_2016.pdf

A November-2024 technical paper by Pescatore deals with the long-term intrinsic radiation hazards of high-level nuclear wastes: http://www.nukleonika.pl/www/back/full/vol69_2024/v69n4p215f.pdf

Clau Pescatore, Affiliated Researcher and member of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University

Claudio Pescatore is affiliated researcher and member of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University.

History and Archaeology meet the Future

2024-11-11

On 11 November 2024, Cornelius Holtorf and David Staley ran a digital research seminar bringing together a unique gathering of historians and archaeologists from Ohio State University and Linnaeus University, working on the future. The title was “When history and archaeology meet the future” and the seminar was attended by 18 students and researchers from different disciplines and in different time zones.

Watch the full seminar here: https://play.lnu.se/media/t/0_us3m9ftw and here https://youtu.be/egs9t_QqgKM

Speakers included

  • Professor David Staley, Ohio State University
  • Professor Cornelius Holtorf, Linnaeus University
  • Professor Anders Högberg, Linnaeus University
  • Professor Noah Sobe, Loyola University Chicago
  • Dr Gustav Wollentz, Linnaeus University
  • Professor Christopher Nichols, Ohio State University

Among the participants and contributors to the half-day seminar were most members of the UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures, including Sarah May, Emily Hanscam, Ulrika Söderström, Leila Papoli-Yazdi, and Helena Rydén.

Kultursektorns beredskap för fred

2024-11-08

Den 16 oktober 2024 var jag inbjuden att delta på Länsmuseernas höstmöte i Uddevalla. Mötets tema var ‘Länsmuseerna i en brytningstid – kultur, motståndskraft och innovation’. Under en session med rubriken Kulturarvets beredskap för krig och fred höll jag ett anförande där jag ställde frågan om Länsmuseerna och den svenska kultursektorn gör tillräckligt just nu för att förebygga krig.


På grund av Zoom-formatet och den begränsade tiden var det svårt att föra en fördjupad diskussion med publiken. Sedan dess har två deltagare skickat in en gemensam skriftlig kommentar, som jag har besvarat.

Läs debatten här:

Ett tidigare bidrag till samma tema publicerades redan förra året:

Högberg, A. och C. Holtorf (2023) Heritage practices and the mobilization of society in times of conflict: We can do better. The European Archaeologist (TEA), issue 78 (Autumn 2023).

Heritage Futures in Saudi Arabia

2024-11-02

I spent three days in AlUla in Saudi Arabia, on invitation of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) to attend the AlUla World Archaeology Symposium 2024. The Royal Commission is extremely well resourced to shape AlUla’s Future, thanks to the Government of the Royal Family. They paid all costs of the Symposium participants and hired a charter jet to get them there from Ryadh (whereas I was driven 300 km through the nightly desert from Medina).

AlUla (also al-Ula) is an ancient Arabian oasis city with some spectacular archaeological sites from various periods as well as additional attractions. The idea is to develop it as a tourism destination until 2030 – which is the year the Saudi King and Crown-Prince’s “Vision 2030” is aiming at.

Vision 2030, they say, “is a blueprint that is diversifying the economy, empowering citizens, creating a vibrant environment for both local and international investors, and establishing Saudi Arabia as a global leader”. The Vision even incorporates comprehensive reforms in the public sector, the economy, and society.

Like other Gulf States (I saw this even last year in Dubai), bold visions are modernising the region at a fast pace and changes, for example regarding women rights, are already visible. The region is engulfed (!) in future visions of the kind that have become practically forgotten in Western countries dominated by either apocalyptic fears or initiatives to maintain the status quo.

The idea for AlUla, according to the RCU is this: “By safeguarding AlUla’s unique heritage and natural features, we aim to generate economic growth and sustainable development. Our strategies are crafted to not only protect but also enhance AlUla’s environmental and historical integrity, ensuring every initiative aligns with sustainable principles. This thoughtful approach positions AlUla as a model for preservation and progress, where its past informs its future.”

They actually take this very seriously, commission a number of comprehensive archaeological research projects in the area and are doing their best to work sustainably in various ways (obviously less so regarding carbon footprint…).

We are invited for the sake of product development and marketing as AlUla is trying to set itself up as the Place of Heritage for the World (as on the incription above) and the Archaeology capital of the world (as they have it on another occasion). The RCU is ambitious in its aspirations, has much archaeology to study and show to visitors, and they also have come far in many ways already.

The experience we get is certainly very different compared to what we see about Saudi Arabia in our media. I am thinking about the BRICS alliance and their claim to manifest an emerging multipolar world. While the old Western powers are increasingly in political, economical and cultural (?) crises, perhaps even decline, there is a perceptible momentum towards fast future development in the Gulf. Interestingly, they embrace culture and heritage (rather than cut budgets which we have become familiar with in Europe by now). A new world order may indeed be emerging, and in Saudi Arabia we saw it being crafted right now.

Some questions remain for Saudi Arabia to work through more fully, e.g. about the exact role of the local community and the human rights record of the government. But it is impressive nonetheless that they have entered a path for change, not just focussing on the economy but also embracing culture and society.

Heritage Futures in the making! Very interesting to see it happening.