Nuclear Waste in the Anthropocene: Uncertainties and Unforeseeable Timescales in the Disposal of Nuclear Waste

From a scientific perspective, in particular following the Working Group on the Anthropocene of the International Commission on Stratigraphy ( WGA -ISC), the major challenge for determining the Anthropocene and its start is the search for a “golden spike”. The WGA -ISC agreed on nuclear fallout from disasters. For a full understanding of the Anthropocene, it however seems necessary to go further than that. We obtain a much broader understanding of the challenges that the new era represents for humanity if we take into account the so-called civilian use of nuclear energy and in particular the challenges posed by nuclear waste ‐ long timescales and scientific uncertainties.