The French Nossum expedition reported on Friday that after the completion of their mission, they found a total of 3350 radioactive drums in the Atlantic pit and realized some leaks, “probably look”, although there are no excessive radiation indications. The expedition, in which there were 20 French, Norwegian, German and Canadian scientists, used the Ulix submarine robot to photograph drums located more than 4000 meters, explains the mission in the press release.
The images of the drums allowed to conduct a “preliminary and incomplete” assessment, which allows us to conclude that the drums are in the “variable state of conservation, with corroded surfaces and colonization with anemones” adds a mission. They also found open cracks in the drums and leaks of the “visible” material in some of them ”of an unknown nature, probably, resins.”
Countries such as France, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany or the Netherlands have released these radioactive waste in the Atlantic pit, in international waters, since the 1940s and beyond the official ban of these categories, which are dated to 1993. These drums, thrown into the sea with polluted remains, were filled with centa or plane.
“Then the authorities believed that these depths of the Abyssals at a depth of 4000 meters were quite stable geological conditions from the coast to throw nuclear waste there,” said one of those who are responsible for the expedition of Patrick Shardon, at the press conference from the Best collected by the French press.
Normal levels of radioactivity
The mission took 345 deposits, 5,000 liters of water and several animals of sea depths, such as Abissal, Amphydd and small crustacean fish for analysis. “The instruments of measuring radiological protection indicate the values at the same level as the background noise of the environment,” the mission explains.
“We did not observe any anomaly from the point of view of radio protection in deposits with the tools that we had on board,” said Chardon, a radioactivity specialist in the environment of the physical laboratory of the Clermont-Summary.
According to Chardon, laboratory analysis will allow “about 100 times more accurate” data on radioactivity, which explains that in any case, “we have retained the drum distance as a principle of precaution”.
The mission, supported by the French Institute of Marine Research and Research (Infremer), went from Brest on June 15 and returned to Thursday after studying a wide territory located about 600 kilometers from the French coast from the city of Nantes in search of these drums.
“We impressed the number of drums that we could observe and the size of the region,” said Chardon, finding that the drums are approximately 163 square kilometers, about 20 drums per square kilometer. “The idea is to know if we changed the ecosystem,” he said.
The autonomous underwater robot successfully made what is his first real scientific mission. “We were surprised by the quality that Sonar sent us. We can perfectly see drums with an acoustic image. This is a pleasant surprise, ”added Chardon.
200,000 drums
As for the possibility of restoring these drums, Chardon assured that he was “technically viable, but the cost of the operation will be astronomical, not to mention the risk that the drums are disintegrated in the process.” “There were four hours a single immersion, so they represent how many trips are required to get 200,000 drums,” he said.
The second campaign is scheduled in 2026 or 2027, which will allow samples nearby and even the drums themselves thanks to the robot of the remote control of Victor or the submersible “sea”. “We have a lot of work ahead to analyze the results and go up to this campaign,” said Chardon.
Greenpeace estimated that about 220,000 drums were postponed with radioactive waste in this area, in which “that is” with the largest number of radioactive waste on the planet. ” In 1982, when the Sirius ship Greenpeace, along with Galitsychiki, ran into Dutch ships to stop his loads. After this action, whose images took place around the world, the Government of the Netherlands announced the interruption of nuclear spills in the sea.
Ten years later, in 1993, an agreement was signed on the protection of the naval environment of the North -East Atlantic, which prohibits waste from low and half the intensity of nuclear waste. A year later, the London Congress of the International Maritime Organization imposed a veto on any radioactive dismissal at sea.
