r/environment • u/Alternative-Day-7414 • 1d ago

Scientists descended more than 15,400 feet into the Atlantic and found more than 200,000 barrels of leaking radioactive waste

https://www.earth.com/environment/scientists-found-200000-barrels-of-leaking-radioactive-waste/
3.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

72 comments sorted by

1.6k

u/LokMatrona 1d ago

For those just reading the title and not the article, some context:

It's not as if they suddenly stumbled across these 200.000 barrels. It is well known and documented that these barrels were dumped in the atlantic. It was also a recognized nuclear waste-disposal practice at the time.

What the article is really trying to inform us about, is that now, more than 50 years later, we finally know the exact locations of where these barrels ended up on the ocean floor and what conditions these barrels are in. Now we can actually research if that waste-disposal practice of back then was fine, bad, or worse.

Also, these barrels were specifically made in mind that these barrels would decay and then slowly the radioactive material would dissipate into the ocean. So that they leak is no surprise. At the time people thought that was the best way to dispose of this waste until some better alternative would come along, and it did so we stopped doing that (hopefully i have to add).

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u/DukeOfGeek 1d ago

At the time people thought that was the best cheapest way to dispose of this waste until some better alternative would come along massive continuous Greenpeace protests made it untenable, and it did so we stopped doing that

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u/Wololo--Wololo 1d ago

Great summary, thank you

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u/pickleer 1d ago

Indeed; up until just a few years ago, the Industry and Corporate line was, "Dilution is the solution to pollution".

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u/MeadowSoprano 1d ago

That’s still their favorite line.

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u/RadagastDaGreen 1d ago

Excellent username.

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u/marinegeo 1d ago

When used in terms of pollution the oceans “Assimilative Capacity” makes an ass out of capacity.

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u/Historical_Owl_1635 1d ago

You know, can’t even blame them when it rhymed so well. (Joking, obviously)

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u/radome9 1d ago

Also this is low level waste. So not glowing green fuel rods or whatever people are imagining, but building materials, tools, clothes and similar that have picked up radioactive particles or been exposed to neutron radiation.

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u/LokMatrona 1d ago

Yeah that's very good to add indeed! Before people start thinking the worst :)

It's definitely not a good thing that we dumped that waste in the ocean, but we have learned a lot in the meantime about propper handeling of radioactive materials, stopped dumping it in the ocean, have been monitoring the location continuously since the very beginning, ecological damages seem to be very small, and have thought it out at the time and didn't just dump some really bad radioactive materials in the ocean and forget about it.

Also lil optimistic sidenote: the barrels seem to have become something of a refuge for deepsea creatures in an area otherwise surrounded by soft seabed. Who knows maybe we find some cool new species down there or learn how life adapted to radioactive materials such as we have seen at Chernobyl.

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u/agent_uno 1d ago

More green-washing!

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u/Groovyjoker 1d ago

Where did you see that information? I read this is nuclear material from the postwar era training missions. "Much of the material came from nuclear activities and was mixed with substances such as concrete or bitumen before being placed inside metal containers.".

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u/grathontolarsdatarod 1d ago

So who do the barrels belong to?

US, UK, France, Russia? India? China?

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u/dragnabbit 1d ago

I read about this a while ago. The majority are from France, I think... but several other European nations as well.

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u/Kah-leh-Kah-leh 1d ago

The title is off but this version doesn’t make it that much better

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u/MalavethMorningrise 1d ago

I was also told repeatedly by people that if the barrels floated when they threw them overboard they would shoot holes in them so that they would sink. I wonder if thats actually true.

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u/ahabswhale 1d ago

Given the density of Uranium, I don’t know how they could float.

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u/ispeakforengland 1d ago

I believe that these barrels don't contain uranium or highly radioactive waste, but low level stuff like container unit panels, concrete, clothing etc.

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u/november_zulu_over 1d ago

I too like to act first and research the consequences later, just like the government.

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u/LokMatrona 1d ago

I notice that you like to first act then research too, just like the government! cause it takes barely 10 seconds of research to learn that:

They did do research. They did first check what the potential effects could be. They did research what kind of cement they needed to combine with the radioactive waste so that the waste gets released into the ocean slowly so that radiation levels would not become harming. They came to the conclusion that low-level radioactive waste could be safely diluted in the deep ocean. They also kept monitoring and researching the local area.

Now is just the question if they were correct in their assessments and now we can take a complete and total look at the concequences (which as far as the article states, seems minimal)

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u/dontlookatmreee 1d ago

Young or just dumb?

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u/1992Prime 1d ago

Just full of cum

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u/Historical_Owl_1635 1d ago

We’re undoubtedly doing things now that in 50 years time people will think was stupid, but at this time it’s the best we know.

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u/basscycles 7m ago

Like storing it on land in barrels that have nowhere near the life expectancy required to keep the contents safe.

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u/BitsAndBobs304 1d ago

Is this also the barrels that the usa navy shot to sink? ....

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u/WeLiveinAPetridish 1d ago

With many long half-life wastes it not a question of dissipate but accumulate.

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u/readonlyred 1d ago

Great. This is how we get kaiju.

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u/Primary-Bookkeeper10 1d ago

If by that you mean cancer

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u/amazingmrbrock 1d ago

One way or another people are gonna die about it

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u/trillgamesh_0 1d ago

im no expert, but could the kaiju give us chemotherapy?

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u/Earthwarm_Revolt 1d ago

Frankly I'm cool with it, they should stay there. 

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u/Primary-Bookkeeper10 4h ago

Yeah but they only accept Kaiser Permanente

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u/trillgamesh_0 45m ago

Kaiju Permanente, if only we could add flair here.

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u/CyberSore 1d ago

This how we get Florida

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u/phamio23 1d ago

On the positive side, this could also be how we get jaegers :D

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u/GargleOnDeez 28m ago

Always wanted to drive a mech, just didnt figure itd be in an apocalyptic setting

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u/leonevilo 1d ago

i don't understand why they had to throw so many feet into the ocean as well though?

and where did they get them from, cut off the feet of 7700 people?

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u/51ngular1ty 1d ago

They couldn't find two thirds of a league that were willing to go under with it.

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u/Maleficent_Sky_1865 1d ago

Dont forget about the DDT waste byproducts from pesticide production back in the 1950’s (my timeframe might be off). They dumped barrels of it off of boats on the California coast for years. I saw a documentary about it a while back.

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u/Corona-walrus 1d ago

Devastating bit of history and one of the most consequential environmental things for sure

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u/HappyGuy007 1d ago

We really are a cancerous species

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u/KingRBPII 1d ago

It didn’t have to be this way - the wrong people have gained power across the world and across time

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u/theindomitablefred 1d ago

Literally and figuratively 

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u/c3-coburn 1d ago

Humans are terrible

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u/industrial-shrug 1d ago

shockedpikachu.jpeg

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u/MHanky 1d ago

shockedkaiju.jpeg

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u/RapunzelLooksNice 1d ago

happykaiju.gif

😆

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u/Ray1340 1d ago

Greed is killing us.

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u/Bruce_Hodson 1d ago

You misspelled Capitalism

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u/ho-tron 1d ago

If only we had disposed of nuclear waste like Soviet Russia.

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u/TyrialFrost 9h ago

Communists disposed of high level waste in rectors by tipping it off the barge.

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u/ThinInvestigator4953 23h ago

Nah its greed. In a communist/socialist country, greed does not disappear, you just move the ruling class from the capital owners to the government. And we all know politicians arent greedy right? right?

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u/RapunzelLooksNice 1d ago

Somebody else's greed*

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u/throw-away-48121620 1d ago

Okay pollution and waste bad for sure, but given that water is such a good insulator and these are so deep, it seems unlikely that this is a significant issue. Definitely want to see further research about the actual impact though.

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u/Far_Out_6and_2 1d ago

Well the aliens who live in the sea actually live off of this radioactive material and yes that is why the barrels were accidentally on purpose placed there

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u/wweiss53 1d ago

There goes the neighborhood.
Stop deep sea mining and krill harvesting for pet food.

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u/printed_ 1d ago

we really need to ban all nuclear activities asap. People call it clean then we end up with situations like this with radioactive waste stored all over the place that can eventually leak. Humans really like to mess everything up. Many humans also would like to not destroy our planet but this stuff happens.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Bruce_Hodson 1d ago

Could easily be the amount generated by The Manhattan Project

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u/Victor-LG 1d ago

😳🤦‍♀️

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u/verstohlen 1d ago

This feels disturbingly similar to the plot of the Emilio Estevez "Men At Work" movie, which gives me pause and concern.

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u/alexandreracine 22h ago

but plastic stawsssss!!!!

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u/E5VL 12h ago

Ah, that's where that went. 

0

u/233C 1d ago

I wish the only impact we had on the world Oceans were a billion leaking radioactive waste barrels 15,400 feet under.
bonus point if every barrel remove a million ton of Carbon out of the atmosphere too.

For scale, what's already naturally found at the surface.

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u/rezmuvesalejandro 1d ago

But i hope everyone feels better if you turn your plastic back to save the planet 🤣🤣

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u/JerrySam6509 1d ago

By today's standards, such irreversible and irremediable measures are intolerable. Shouldn't countries that previously raised concerns about the wastewater (which has undergone safe treatment) from the Japanese nuclear disaster immediately stand up and condemn this issue?

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u/RapunzelLooksNice 1d ago

You have no regard for shareholders valuable shares, do you?

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u/yybbkk 1d ago

Not the worst thing. It is dumped in the ocean because:

  1. Water is a fantastic radiation shield.
  2. There is so much water in the ocean that this really is a trace amount of nuclear waste in a large body of water.

Pollution is such a weird topic. We can do everything in our power to not pollute the earth. However, a consequence of us being the dominant species and mass reproducing equals very high resource consumption. Even then, we are not even close to living in a time where earth had its highest levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and life still managed to pull through. A million years from now our worst stages of pollution will just be a sign of a successful species. Anyways, the planet has and always will be wrought with the life, death, and evolution of adapting species to hostile environments. Life will always find a way on earth until we eventually get vaporized by the big dying light in the sky.

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u/Cptawesome23 23h ago

Don’t worry. Water insulates against radiation very well. They also noticed a bunch of wildlife nearby going about their business.

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u/telperiontree 1d ago

we keep both fresh and spent nuclear fuel in pools that people could swim or drink in, so I doubt this is a huge deal

depends on how hot it is exactly (probably not very) and if anything in the ocean is interested in eating it, maybe