Research team discovers leaks from nuclear waste drums in the Atlantic.
They were disposed of in the north-east Atlantic decades ago, and now an international team of researchers has returned from a search mission for nuclear waste drums in the sea area west of France and Ireland. The preliminary result: some of the containers are damaged.
Photos showed that material had leaked from some of the barrels. This is probably the binding agent bitumen, according to the French research organisation CNRS. The group has not yet detected any increased levels of radioactivity.
In total, the team from the Nuclear Ocean Dump Site Survey Monitoring (NODSSUM) project reportedly located around 3350 barrels over an area of 163 square kilometres.
Some of the surfaces of the drums examined were rusted and colonised by anemones, the press release continues. The condition of the containers varied: intact, deformed or torn open.
Déchets radioactifs : une mission scientifique part cartographier les fûts immergés de l’Atlantique
Nuclear Ocean Dump Site Survey Monitoring