Over 1000 nuclear waste barrels discovered in the Atlantic – danger to the environment!

Over 1000 nuclear waste barrels discovered in the Atlantic – danger to the environment!

An international research team has discovered and located over 1,000 barrels of nuclear waste in the northeast Atlantic. This explosive news was announced by the French research organization CNRS. The current expedition set off from Brest, France, in mid-June and is seen by scientists as crucial to understanding the ecological impacts of nuclear waste disposal. The researchers have been working for a whole month - with the ship "L'Atalante" they are searching for over 200,000 suspected barrels, which are estimated to be at depths of 3,000 to 5,000 meters in the ocean, like the MoPo reported.

Between the 1950s and 1980s, several countries, including European countries, dumped radioactive waste in the Atlantic. This unsafe practice was finally banned in 1993, but the exact locations and condition of the barrels are largely unknown. The team of 21 researchers plan to create a detailed map of the sites while collecting samples of water, soil and marine life to analyze the consequences of disposal.

Technology in the service of science

The latest technology is helpful in the mission: an autonomous diving robot called Ulyx is used to provide support. This robot can dive to depths of 6,000 meters and is equipped with sensors, a camera to generate 3D images and a sonar system for location. This technology will allow scientists to map very precisely the search area, which is more than 1,000 kilometers west of La Rochelle in the Western European Basin Spiegel added.

Project manager Patrick Chardon emphasizes that a strategic assessment of the situation is important. In his opinion, the radioactivity of most barrels could be almost gone after 300 to 400 years. Only about 2% of nuclear waste could have a significantly longer radiation duration. However, it is necessary to assess the potential risks to the marine ecosystem as the barrels were not designed for long-term confinement of radioactivity, making the situation unnecessarily complicated.

Further research and sample analysis

The samples collected during this expedition will be sent to various laboratories in Europe for an in-depth analysis of the composition and possible dangers of the barrels. A second expedition for targeted sampling is already planned for the coming years, although the exact date has not yet been set. The discovery of the over 1,000 nuclear barrels could thus be the first step in a broader study of the long-term consequences of nuclear waste disposal in the ocean, which is due to Kurier is underlined.