Throwing nuclear waste into the ocean seems absurd from today’s perspective. But that was exactly what happened between the 1950s and 1980s. In Noordoost -Atlantic Ocean alone, at least 200,000 barrels are suspected.
A team of European researchers is now looking for the vessels and drives to the area in which half of the waste landed.
Oceans seemed to be the location of the safe removal
With the start of nuclear energy in Europe, the issue of removal of nuclear waste also arose for many countries. The depths of the ocean, far from the coast and human activity, appeared as a cheap and simple solution to remove what started in laboratories in industrial development – at least when the ocean was considered geologically stable. At that time there was little of life in the oceans of the world. It was only in 1993 that the removal of nuclear waste in the ocean was finally forbidden.
The head of the Nodssum project (Nuclear Ocean Dump Site Survey Monitoring), Patrick Chardon, assumes that the majority of the nuclear waste that ended up in the Noord -Atlantic Ocean would have to disappear almost after about 300 to 400 years. Only about two percent of the waste is considerably longer the radiation duration, said the atomic physicist, who works on the Labor Clermont Auvergne in Clermont Ferrand.
According to Chardon, the vessels were designed in such a way that they resist the pressure in depth, but not in a way they really lock the radioactivity. The physicist suspects that radioactivity could escape from the containers for a long time.
Diving robots will look for the sea for barrels
In the project, 21 scientists now want to detect the barrels, which are probably 3000 to 5000 meters deep for a month. The search area is more than 1000 kilometers west of La Rochelle in Western European basin in the Atlantic Ocean.
The aim is to re -evaluate and investigate the consequences of waste removal in the sea what the ecosystem is about. The experts want to make a map with nuclear walk and take various samples of water, soil and animals. They also want to investigate a reference area to compare the results later.
The team receives support from an autonomous diving robot. The Ulyx robot can sink up to 6000 meters. In addition to physical and chemical sensors, it has a camera for 3D images and a sonar system to find objects with sound. With the recordings of the robots, the experts want to detect the individual barrels and their condition and notice their position. Because exactly where the containers are, whether they are individual or in groups and whether they are still intact, is currently unknown.
To search the entire area of his research area, the team would need years, co-project manager Javier Escartin of the University of Ens Paris. During the four weeks, try to search around 200 square kilometers in different zones. Based on the robot images, the scientists decide exactly where they remove water or animals.
So far not to assess the consequences of storage
In addition to the amount of radioactivity, the researchers are also concerned with the environment of the waste – such as whether the radiation of sediments is blocked or what influence depth flows have.
After the four -week mission, the collected rehearsals go to various laboratories in Europe. The scientists then want to set a different e -mail to sail to even remove even targeted rehearsals. An exact date for the second exit is not yet determined.
Source: Krone
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