DEADLY radioactive plutonium is leaking into the Pacific Ocean from a tiny island where the US detonated dozens of Cold War nukes.
During its clean-up operation on Enewetak Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, the American military built a giant concrete dome to house the toxic material left over from the nuclear tests.
And now with rising sea levels, the storage facility is leaking into the Pacific Ocean, potentially spreading its deadly contents far and wide.
It has now been claimed that the dome, which was built with a porous base of seashells and sand , was not sealed properly – which has further contributed to the radioactive leak, reports News.com.au.
Over the course of 10 years, during the Cold War, 43 nuclear bombs were detonated, blasting craters and vaporising islands.
Back in 2013, a report commissioned by the US Department of Energy confirmed the dome is leaking its highly toxic waste.
Locals refer to it as “the poison” and have already been complaining of birth defects and high cancer rates.
One of the substances buried within the nuclear dump is plutonium — which has a half-life of 24,000 years – and is one of the most toxic and carcinogenic substances on the planet.
Exposure can cause a number of health issues, including radiation sickness, genetic damage, cancer and death.
As testing went on, the US saw its capability to destroy entire islands, bombing them and obliterating them.
Some of the largest nuclear bombs ever tested were detonated in the tiny tropical islands.
In the ’70s, US media reports labelled the area the most decimated and toxic in the world.
One of the bombs tested in the area was called the “Bravo Shot” — 1000 times more powerful than those bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The US paid for the initial clean-up for the site, sending around 4000 personnel to the area in 1977 undertake the task.
The storage facility was never properly sealed at its base, and as the climate in the Pacific has become more volatile, the toxic contents have begun to leech out.
“Seawater is penetrating the underside of the dome, because when they threw all this material into the old bomb crater, they didn’t line it with anything,” reporter Mike Willesee said.
Willesee travelled to the Marshall Islands for the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent in 2017, saying cracks were visible in the concrete dome and that residents feared for their lives if the structure was to collapse.
Beyond their own immediate safety, the surrounding residents warned of the catastrophic fallout that could arise from the water flowing into the Pacific Ocean.
“They were supposed to line it with concrete, but that never happened because of cost considerations.
“So, as the sea level has risen, the groundwater level has risen and therefore you have groundwater penetrating inside the dome, because a lot of this atoll is obviously sand (and) coral. It’s permeable material,” Willesee said.
“The dome was only meant to be a temporary solution until the US came up with a permanent plan,” he said, describing the concrete solution as a cost-cutting exercise.
The 2013 US government report also warned that the increasing severity of storms in the region meant the dome was at risk of being blown apart.
The same report said that kind of major breach of the facility would not cause further damage to the islands than had already been caused by the Cold War nuclear testing.
In 1986, the US granted the Marshall Islands independence and wrote them a cheque for $150 million, intended to generate money to be used as payment to claimants as a result of damage and injury caused by the nuclear testing.
In 2010, a lawsuit by the Marshallese arguing over “changed circumstances” over the Nuclear Claims Tribunal established to manage the claims was dismissed by the US Supreme Court.
An attempt to undertake another clean-up took place in 2000, treating contaminated areas with potassium, but since then the rising sea levels have caused more issues.
Residents of the Marshall Islands fear their homes are at constant risk of inundation.
As sea levels continue to rise and the climate becomes more unstable, locals are faced with the harsh reality that their island homes are becoming uninhabitable.
The children who live there now refer to themselves as “the last generation”.
“Time is very limited,” 16-year-old Charlotte Jack told US TV network ABC.
“Sometimes I think that by the time I graduate and go get my education, try to come back and serve my island, there’s no more island. There’s no more nation.
“There’s no more culture. And I’m just there, stuck on the mainland, thinking, ‘What could I have done?’”
In the Marshall Islands, the most common cause of death is diabetes, which is related to a thyroid disorder. The second most common cause of death is cancer.
MOST READ IN NEWS
The population has long told of horrific rates of birth defects and cancer and thyroid problems, which the locals attribute to continued fallout from the extensive radioactive bombing of the area.
The population of the Marshall Islands is around 70,000 people, with local Marshallese people allowed to live and work in the US without a visa as part of the reparations for the nuclear testing that took place.
Over a third have already moved to the US. It is said that when you leave the Marshall Islands, you buy a one-way ticket.
A version of this article originally appeared on News.com.au.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours
Link
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/deadly-plutonium-leaking-into-pacific-from-us-cold-war-nuke-test-site-after-military-fails-to-seal-concrete-dome-on-tiny-island/
News Pictures Deadly plutonium leaking into Pacific from US Cold War nuke test site after military fails to seal concrete dome on tiny island
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/NINTCHDBPICT000460379889.jpg?strip=all&w=960
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий