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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Aug 7

I'm pumped about my first article in @spektrum.de! It's about Onkalo in Finland, the first permanent repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste currently being finished and how it is planned to be secured. www.spektrum.de/news/onkalo-...

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jul 25

I'm happy to share one of my recent text for the Environment and Climate Research Hub (ech.univie.ac.at) about clouds, aerosols, and how they shape the climate. It also talks about the potential and risks of solar geoengineering using clouds and aerosols.

ech.univie.ac.at/story/cloud-...

Cloud Power: How the Sky Shapes Our Climate - ECH

Almost every day, we can see clouds in the sky, but rarely we are aware of their wide-ranging impact on the climate. They can both raise and drop temperatures and have complex interactions with the pa...

ech.univie.ac.at

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Reposted by Thomas Zauner

FYI-Kollektiv @fyi-kollektiv.bsky.social · Jun 10

Streit um den Mistplatz für den 2. und 20. Bezirk in Wien:
Anrainer:innen wollen sich jetzt gegen die Einscheidung der Stadt Wien wehren. @nazk.bsky.social hat mit @odehnal.bsky.social recherchiert
www.zwischenbruecken.at/report/stadt...

Neuer Mistplatz kommt an die Freie Mitte - Zwischenbrücken

Die rot-pinke Koalition wird einen neuen Mistplatz für den 2. und 20. Bezirk an der Innstraße bauen. Anrainer protestieren.

www.zwischenbruecken.at

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Reposted by Thomas Zauner

Presseclub Concordia @concordia.at · Jun 12

Bald tritt das Informationsfreiheitsgesetz in Kraft. Wie Journalist:innen damit arbeiten können, zeigen wir bei "Her mit den Daten". Diesmal holen wir uns Inspiration aus Deutschland – von @veradelejahotko.bsky.social von @fragdenstaat.de.
📅 17.6., 18 Uhr
ℹ️ concordia.at/her-mit-den-...

Flyer: Her mit den Daten – Informationsfreiheit in der Praxis. Teil 3: FragDenStaat – Recherchen mit und ohne Informationsfreiheit mit Vera Deleja-Hotko. Moderation: Markus "fin" Hametner

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 13

Here is the paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Nuclear waste and future societies: A look into the deep future

Inadvertent human intrusion is thought to be a significant, if not the most significant, threat to nuclear waste held in repositories. As part of the …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

This post may be my most perfect intersection of my interests in science communication and TTRPGs. XD

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

I feel you

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

For people who enjoy thinking about how to communicate the dangers of nuclear waste, I very much recommend researching "nuclear semiotics" and having a look at the @99pi.org episode "Ten Thousand Years" on the topic of ray cats. It also contains a catchy song!
99percentinvisible.org/episode/ten-...

Ten Thousand Years - 99% Invisible

In 1990, the federal government invited a group of geologists, linguists, astrophysicists, architects, artists, and writers to the New Mexico desert, to visit the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. They wo...

99percentinvisible.org

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

I've found nothing so far on Mickey Nuke, but this paper (hiroshima-cu.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/191/f..., direct download link) mentions on page 14 a "Nickey Nuke" (see image) from the film "Containment" (www.containmentmovie.com).

An image of a black and white cartoon character that looks like an upright-walking panda bear with white shoes and gloves. The image is from the research paper "The Visible and the Invisible when Considering Northern European Permanent Spent Fuel Storage: Forsmark and Onkalo" and the depicted caption reads "Figure 6: Nickey Nuke (image taken from the film, Containment)".

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

ahh, great point! I'll do that right away

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

Yeah, I'm sorry, I forgot to add the alt text in the first post, but I added two posts in a thread with the alt text of the full table content. I hope that works for you.

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Reposted by Thomas Zauner

Ryan Vamps @ryanvance.bsky.social · Jun 12

If you enjoy thinking about future feminist cults building high-speed underground railways directly through toxic waste sites because the rise of a new empire has rendered everyone illiterate, boy do I have the two-player storytelling game for you!

ryanvance.itch.io/an-honourabl...

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

I got this one already, but have not played it yet. I'm looking forward to playing it! :-)

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

This is the paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Nuclear waste and future societies: A look into the deep future

Inadvertent human intrusion is thought to be a significant, if not the most significant, threat to nuclear waste held in repositories. As part of the …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

and here with the second part of the alt-text

Human warriors return from space (11991)
A battleship returning from a mission loses control upon re-entering the earth environment. Attempting to reduce speed, the ship fires lasers into the ground near the WIPP site. The effect of lasers and the crash impact penetrates the site.

Mickey Nuke and WIPP worlds (11191)
The WIPP Museum and WIPP Worlds become major tourist attractions at the WIPP site. Mickey Nuke is a fictional character that survives many generations. As long as he lives, the warnings about WIPP survive.

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

I forgot to add alt-text, I'm sorry. Here again with the first part of alt-text that does not fully fit into the 2,000 character limit.

A table with the title: Point Scenarios of Possible Future Societies—Boston Team.

The items of the table are listed below:

A feminist world (2091)
Women dominate society partially through selection of girl babies. Twentieth century science is discredited as male arrogance. Warnings about repository are dismissed as another example of muddled masculine thinking.

Mysticism and religion (2091)
A religious cult emerges that rejects existing scientific consensus and realities. Settling in New Mexico, they searched for deeper meaning by digging up the WIPP site.

Buried treasure (2091)
New Mexico secedes from the United States and is annexed by Mexico. Knowledge about the WIPP site is lost except for some rumors that something valuable is buried there. Treasure hunters are happy to find “warning signs” and begin to dig.

WIPP as the nation’s nuclear waste site (2091)
WIPP is expanded to receive all kinds of radioactive wastes and other waste, and it is enlarged to many times its planned capacity. Later, some of the wastes are recovered for processing or improved storage, leading to releases of radionuclides.

A Houston-to-Los Angeles tunnel (2991)
A high-speed transportation tunnel is dug between Houston and Los Angeles with stops near Carlsbad and Phoenix. The tunnel is 2000 feet underground and passes close by the WIPP site. Construction and vibration disrupt the repository.

Global illiteracy (2991)
A declining United States is replaced by a new State of Eastlandia, which establishes prison mines in New Mexico. Illiterate miners are incapable of reading the messages warning of the danger of the site.

Virus impairs computerized people (11991)
Owing to a computer virus, robots disregard commands and begin to dig compulsively in the area of New Mexico, penetrating the WIPP site.

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

All of those scenarios would make for interesting TTRPG settings though. XD

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

And I'm doubtful that 10,000 years in the future, the copyright lawyers of the then presumably CHOAM-sized Disney Corporation would allow a "Mickey Nuke" mascot for the WIPP Worlds tourist attraction.

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

The "A Houston-to-Los Angeles tunnel" scenario sound actually pretty cool, except for the part where they dig into nuclear waste.

The scenarios 10,000 years in the future are some Dune-level stuff.

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

Tbh, I kinda like some aspects of this one: "A feminist world - 2091 - Women dominate society partially through selection of girl babies. Twentieth century science is discredited as male arrogance. Warnings about repository are dismissed as another example of muddled masculine thinking."

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 12

Please enjoy this table of possible future scenarios from a 1990s paper in a peer-reviewed journal on how to deal with nuclear waste storage in underground repositories in New Mexico. I found it while doing research for an article on nuclear waste storage. "WIPP" means "Waste Isolation Pilot Plant".

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Reposted by Thomas Zauner

Freischreiber:innen AT @freischreiberat.bsky.social · May 25

„Wenn ich mehr verlange, bekomme ich keine Aufträge mehr”. Davon dürfen wir uns nicht leiten lassen. Anlässlich der KV-Verhandlungen daher ein Aufruf an uns alle: Sagen wir nein, zu Honoraren unter der Armutsgefährdungsgrenze, und trauen wir uns, selbstbewusst angemessene Honorare einzufordern!

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Reposted by Thomas Zauner

Freischreiber:innen AT @freischreiberat.bsky.social · May 24

Armut trotz Vollzeitjob? Wir sagen ganz klar: NEIN! Die Arbeit Freie:r Journalist:innen ist mehr wert als der läppische KV-Satz von 53,54 €. Freie Journalist:innen brauchen faire Honorare, faire Arbeitsbedingungen und Wertschätzung ihrer Arbeit gegenüber!

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Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Jun 4

Eine sehr wichtige Kampagne von @freischreiberat.bsky.social für eine gerechte Entlohnung für freie Journalist:innen!

Gerne weiter teilen und darauf aufmerksam machen!

Freischreiber:innen AT @freischreiberat.bsky.social · May 22

Kommende Woche starten die KV-Verhandlungen für Journalist:innen. Wir fordern höhere Honorare, denn: Für Freie sieht der KV 53,54 € pro 1.000 Zeichen vor. Im Durchschnitt ergibt das ein Monatseinkommen von 1.600 €. Die Armutsgefährdungsgrenze in Österreich liegt aber bei 1.661 €/Monat.

Thomas Zauner @thomaszauner.bsky.social · Apr 8

Update zum Umbau der Wallensteinstraße von @nazk.bsky.social im Zwischenbrücken Magazin: www.zwischenbruecken.at/reportage/be...

Die Ergebnisse sind jetzt endlich zugänglich und zeigen den Wunsch nach mehr Begrünung, Gehsteigen und Radwegen. Mehr ist allerdings damit noch nicht passiert.

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