The U.S. put nuclear waste under a dome on a Pacific island. Now it's cracking open.

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

The U.S. put nuclear waste under a dome on a Pacific island. Now it’s cracking open.

By Kyle Swenson May 20

-snip-

Enewetak Atoll was subjected to repeated blasts during the testing, and inhabitants were forced to relocate before the explosions began. Beginning in 1977, 4,000 U.S. service members began collecting an estimated 73,000 cubic meters (2.58 million cubic feet) of tainted surface soil across the islands, according to the Marshall Islands’ government.

The material was then transported to Runit Island, where a 328-foot crater remained from a May 1958 test explosion. For three years, the American military dumped the material into the crater. Six men reportedly died during the work. Locals took to calling it “The Tomb,” the Guardian reported.

In 1980, a massive concrete dome — 18 inches thick and shaped like a flying saucer — was placed over the fallout debris, sealing off the material on Runit. But the $218 million project was only supposed to be temporary until a more permanent site was developed, according to the Guardian. However, no further plans were ever hatched.

In 1983, the Marshall Islands signed a compact of free association with the United States, granting the island nation the right to govern itself. But the deal also settled “all claims, past, present and future” tied to the nuclear testing and left the dome in the care of the island government.

According to a 2017 report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the fallout included plutonium-239, an isotope that is one of the world’s most toxic substances, and one with a radioactive half-life of 24,100 years.

The staying power of that material is the problem. It’s still there, only 18 inches of concrete away from waters that are rising.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/20/us-put-nuclear-waste-under-dome-pacific-island-now-its-cracking-open/

[Chin music]

1. We know that Japans radioactivity has spread over a lot of the Pacific.

I saw this a few years ago. I'm curious how the other Sailors etc came out , healthwise.

[Clarity2]

2. I don't get

how anyone can use the argument that nuclear energy is "clean energy". All that waste has to be contained, and then recontained over and over for tens of thousands of years. And then the risk of melt downs/accidents. I worked at a nuclear plant right out of high school, and didn't even really get the full ramifications of radiation till Chernobyl happened (because they ply you with so much bs propaganda videos when you are hired). I can say with certainty (at least in my experience) that often enough the public doesn't get word of risky "small" events at nuke plants. As it is, I'm not even sure it was ever revealed to the public whatever happened to the core at Chernobyl. And yes, the Japan accidents...the full effects seem to be suppressed. We never hear about it.

This dome - the U.S. govt needs to take responsibility for it's maintenance asap. But then, this is the Trump administration.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. The scariest thing I have ever seen is the new series "Chernobyl"

Because the Soviet gov. under Gorbachov had no clue what radiation was like, and the people in the area were not told of any danger, nor the hospitals receiving the very toxic patients from the plant area.
People living near the reactor were eventually rounded up and bussed away, but only after days of radiation had fallen on them.
death totals were hidden.

Japan was/is not being forthcoming about Fukishima, and rarely is there any news of it, except reports they are now dumping radioactive water into the ocean because of lack of any storage space.

The US Navy ships that were near Fukishima were contaminated, crewmen have died, others are ill, and again not for prime time news.

[Clarity2]

6. I'm watching Chernobyl now

Wishing it was more than a 5 part series - there's just so much detail to go into, which they only hit the surface.

Fukishima - very scary. I worry about ingestion of radiated seafood, and exposure to people on the west coast.
I remember everyone stocking up on iodine pills.

Really couldn't find out much info about Chernobyl's core - except that the whole site will be decommissioned in 2065.
I thought the official count of deaths for the three major nuke accidents was an absolute joke though: https://www.livescience.com/13858-chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-25-years.html

[hunter]

7. The scariest thing about Chernobyl is how nature bounced back after people were removed.

Humans going about their ordinary lives do far more damage to the natural world than an exploded nuclear power plant.

And this:

https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/03/the-wild-boars-of-fukushima/519066/

[AtheistCrusader]

8. This was from weapons testing. Nuclear Bombs are not purported to be 'clean energy'.

We know what happened at Chernobyl, in chilling detail, even thought the soviets tried to cover it up.
We are learning what the conditions at Fukushima Dai-ichi are, even though TEPCO would rather we not.

Neither reactor disaster (nor hundreds of other nuclear power accidents that are well documented) have anything to do with the dome in the OP. That's from our legacy of nuclear armaments and above ground nuclear weapons testing.

[hunter]

3. There's worse pollutants on earth have a half life of *FOREVER* but nobody seems to care.

Humanity has got three choices. We can maintain something resembling our current high energy industrial world economy using nuclear power, we can create a low energy world economy that looks nothing like the economy many of the world's affluent people now enjoy, or we can continue to burn fossil fuels which will result in the collapse of the existing world economy and the natural world we are familiar with.

Cultish anti-nuclear activism leads only to choice three.

[defacto7]

4. This is the fact that the majority don't get.

Anti-nuke propaganda is existentially dangerous. If I could choose I'd go with your second choice. But humans are takers for the most part, not givers.