After decades ago, barrels were partially broken in the northeastern atomic waste of the Northeast Atlantic. For some of the containers, unknown material had escaped after a first representation of photos, presumably the binder bitumen, is said.
According to the French research organization CNRS, the international team has returned from a search mission to nuclear waste vessels. So far, however, the group has not found any increased radioactivity values.
Discover more than 3,300 barrels on the seabed
In general, the Nocssum project team (Nuclear Ocean Dump site Survey Monitoring) was around 3350 barrels on an area of 163 square kilometers. For this it also used a diving robot with the name “Ulyx”, which has a camera for 3D images and a sonar system for the location of objects with sound.
The scientists also analyzed around 50 photographed barrels and moved in a number of samples of water, soil and animals. Some surfaces of the vessels surveyed are rusted and populated with anemones, according to a message from the CNRS. The condition of the containers is different – intact, distorted or torn open.
Fine measurements for radioactivity are still missing
The CNRS continues to show the measuring instruments for radiation. “Fine radioactivity measurements in the laboratory of sediments, water and fisheries require a few months of work,” said the research organization.
The group of 21 researchers traveled for four weeks with their ship “L’Astalante” in an area in the West -European Pole of the Atlantic Ocean. Half of the waste should have landed in the area. The experts investigated where the barrels are and what influence they have on the local ecosystem.
Radiation can escape from containers
Project manager Patrick Chardon assumes that the vast majority of nuclear waste in the North Atlantic Ocean should have disappeared after about 300 to 400 years of radioactivity. However, the barrels are designed in such a way that they resist the depth pressure, but not so in a way that they really lock the radioactivity. The atomic physicist suspects that radioactivity could escape from the containers for a long time.
Source: Krone
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