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Under the dome: Fears Pacific nuclear 'coffin' is leaking
As nuclear explosions go, the US "Cactus" bomb test in May 1958 was relatively small—but it has left a lasting legacy for the Marshall Islands in a dome-shaped radioactive dump.
The dome—described by a UN chief Antonio Guterres as "a kind of coffin"—was built two decades after the blast in the Pacific ocean region.
The US military filled the bomb crater on Runit island with radioactive waste, capped it with concrete, and told displaced residents of the Pacific's remote Enewetak atoll they could safely return home.
But Runit's 45-centimetre (18-inch) thick concrete dome has now developed cracks.
And because the 115-metre wide crater was never lined, there are fears radioactive contaminants are leaching through the island's porous coral rock into the ocean.
The concerns have intensified amid climate change. Rising seas, encroaching on the low-lying nation, are threatening to undermine the dome's structural integrity.
Jack Ading, who represents the area in the Marshalls' parliament, calls the dome a "monstrosity".
"It is stuffed with radioactive contaminants that include plutonium-239, one of the most toxic substances known to man," he told AFP.
"The coffin is leaking its poison into the surrounding environment. And to make matters even worse, we're told not to worry about this leakage because the radioactivity outside of the dome is at least as bad as the radioactivity inside of it."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Sulla on Tuesday May 28 2019, @12:57AM (3 children)
Yeah. We could put this into breeder reactors and re-burn it like France does. But Carter made it illegal because the same processes also produces weapons grade by products (which themselves could also be burned for additional power).
Thanks Jimmy!
He did it to stop proliferation, so his heart was in the right place. Unfortunately because of the decision we have endless toxic waste in the US (and US territories/acquisitions) that is unable to be used. The old Trojan plant in Oregon has something like 1,000 years of power if we were to burn the waste sitting at the site of the old reactor.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday May 28 2019, @01:17AM (1 child)
That would involve the US Government admitting they ruined these people's island and spending a lot of money to make things right.
That's just not how these things work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @06:18PM
oh lordy! so many truths!
(Score: 2) by mrkaos on Wednesday May 29 2019, @03:07AM
France doesn't have an operational breeder reactor. The history [tandfonline.com]shows there were numerous issues to running it. Can you point out an operational breeder reactor in France that I may have missed?
In the next term Reagan rescinded those laws. The reason why no one uses it is because breeders create a "plutonium economy" where there is ever increasing amounts of plutonium.
Breeders don't burn plutonium, they "breed" plutonium. That's why they are called "Breeder reactors". You are thinking of "Burner" reactors which are a completely different technology. You get more plutonium out of a Breeder than you put into it because the other fuel materials are converted within the reactor.
Blame the Oil and Coal lobby, they're the ones who lobbied to have Clinton shut the "Burner" program down and W.Bush to fund its complete destruction.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.