Science: Researchers find more than 1000 nuclear waste drums in the Atlantic

Decades ago, several countries disposed of barrels of nuclear waste in the middle of the Atlantic. Where exactly they are was unclear for a long time. An expedition is now uncovering them. (archive image) Keystone

In their search for nuclear waste disposed of decades ago, scientists have already discovered and located more than 1000 barrels in the north-east Atlantic. This was announced by a spokesperson for the French research organization CNRS.

The international research team set off in mid-June from Brest in western France on their ship "L'Atalante" to their search area in the Western European basin of the Atlantic.

For four weeks, they want to search for nuclear waste drums there and see what impact they have on the local ecosystem. A researcher from the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology in Bremerhaven is also taking part.

Hundreds of thousands of nuclear waste drums ended up in the ocean years ago

Between the 1950s and 1980s, a number of countries disposed of nuclear waste in the ocean. The depths of the ocean, far from the coast and human activity, appeared to be a cheap and easy solution for disposing of what was produced in industrial development and laboratories - at least where the ocean was considered geologically stable.

At the time, little was known about life in the world's oceans. It was not until 1993 that the disposal of nuclear waste in the ocean was finally banned. At least 200,000 barrels are thought to be in the north-east Atlantic alone - at depths of 3000 to 5000 meters.

Experts want to create a map with barrels

However, it is not known exactly where the nuclear waste is located. Not much is known about the condition of the barrels or whether they are lying individually or in groups. 21 researchers are therefore currently on the move in the area where probably half of the waste ended up.

The team wants to create a map of nuclear barrel finds and take a number of samples of water, soil and animals. They are being supported by the autonomous diving robot Ulyx, which has a camera for 3D images and a sonar system for locating objects with sound, among other things.

Patrick Chardon, head of the NODSSUM (Nuclear Ocean Dump Site Survey Monitoring) project, assumes that the radioactivity in the vast majority of nuclear waste in the North Atlantic will have virtually disappeared after around 300 to 400 years. However, the drums were designed to withstand the pressure of the depths, but not to actually contain the radioactivity. The nuclear physicist suspects that radioactivity could have been escaping from the containers for some time.