The Washington Post published an engaging essay about a nuclear waste depository on the Marshall Islands. Some good background and discussion of the meeting of two critical issues, climate change and nuclear waste. Beyond the comments from a shill or two from the pro-nuclear camp, the concerns of us common folk is quite clear in the comments section.
The staying power of that material is the problem. It’s still there, only 18 inches of concrete away from waters that are rising.
“That dome is the connection between the nuclear age and the climate change age,” climate change activist Alson Kelen told the Australian broadcaster.
Cracks have reportedly started to appear in the dome. Part of the threat is that the crater was never properly lined, meaning that rising seawater could breach the structural integrity.“The bottom of the dome is just what was left behind by the nuclear weapons explosion,” Michael Gerrard, the chair of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, told the ABC. “It’s permeable soil. There was no effort to line it. And therefore, the seawater is inside the dome.”