Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

OKIsItJustMe

(19,938 posts)
Thu Aug 4, 2016, 05:56 PM Aug 2016

Melting ice sheet could expose frozen Cold War-era hazardous waste

http://news.yorku.ca/2016/08/04/melting-ice-sheet-could-expose-frozen-cold-war-era-hazardous-waste/
[font face=Serif][font size=5]Melting ice sheet could expose frozen Cold War-era hazardous waste[/font]

[font size=3]TORONTO, Aug. 4, 2016 – Climate change is threatening to expose hazardous waste at an abandoned camp thought to be buried forever in the Greenland Ice Sheet, new research out of York University has found.

Camp Century, a United States military base built within the Greenland ice sheet in 1959, doubled as a top-secret site for testing the feasibility of deploying nuclear missiles from the Arctic during the Cold War. When the camp was decommissioned in 1967, its infrastructure and waste were abandoned under the assumption they would be entombed forever by perpetual snowfall.

“Two generations ago, people were interring waste in different areas of the world, and now climate change is modifying those sites,” said William Colgan, a climate and glacier scientist at York U and lead author of the new study. “It’s a new breed of climate change challenge we have to think about.”

The study was published today in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

…[/font][/font]
1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Melting ice sheet could expose frozen Cold War-era hazardous waste (Original Post) OKIsItJustMe Aug 2016 OP
Camp Century had nuclear power GreydeeThos Aug 2016 #1
Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Melting ice sheet could e...