Between 1946 and 1993, 14 countries in Europe dumped more than 200,000 barrels of radioactive waste in the northeast Atlantic ⸺ a practice banned in the 1990s.
These tens of thousands of metric tonnes of waste contain an enormous amount of radioactivity, officially 85,000 terabecquerels (1 trillion becquerels) of radiation. The asphalt and cement barrels were abandoned at more than 80 locations in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific. But the northeast Atlantic site, 12,000 feet under water, has the most dense concentration.
On June 15, a team of scientists launched from northwestern France to locate barrels and collect data to examine the radioactive waste’s effects on the surrounding environment. “UlyX,” a 12-foot-long autonomous underwater robot capable of diving down to 18,000 feet, traveled along for the 26-day voyage. The robot was to use sonar to find the barrels, measure radioactivity, and take pictures to assess their condition.
The barrels were designed to last 20-26 years and are now twice that age. Greenpeace film footage of some of the barrels from the year 2000, near the French coast, showed they were corroded and greatly deteriorated. Currently, there is no scientific understanding of how radionuclides respond in the ocean, especially in extreme ocean depth. The team will seek to better understand which radionuclides are present and how they may be moving through the ecosystem. For example, strontium-90 can be confused with calcium by living organisms that absorb it as such and transfer it up the food chain.
The robot and the team will only be able to assess an area of about 20 square kilometers with each dive ⸺ the two areas of research are 300 times larger and cover more than 6,000 square kilometers.
⸺ France 24 TV, June 6; Future, June 7, 2025
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