Researchers' quest for locating several hundreds of barrels of nuclear waste across oceans

Nuclear waste isn’t only stored on land — some of it lies at the bottom of the ocean. Decades ago, countries dumped barrels of radioactive waste into the Atlantic. Now, researchers are combing the ocean floor in search of those containers — and have already found hundreds.

A team of scientists has located and mapped over 1,000 such barrels in the North Atlantic, according to a spokesperson for the French research agency CNRS cited by ZDF. The international expedition set sail in mid-June from Brest, in western France, aboard the research vessel L’Atalante. The team is now scouring the Western European Basin for a full four weeks, examining the dumped barrels and assessing their impact on local ecosystems. 

Why nuclear barrels were dumped at sea

From the 1950s through the 1980s, many nations disposed of nuclear waste in the oceans. Remote deep-sea areas, far from coasts and human activity, seemed like a practical and low-risk solution for offloading radioactive byproducts from labs and industry — especially in regions deemed geologically stable.

At the time, understanding of marine ecosystems was minimal. It wasn’t until 1993 that ocean disposal of nuclear waste was officially banned.

It’s estimated that at least 200,000 barrels of nuclear waste lie in the Northeast Atlantic, between 3,000 and 5,000 meters deep. Their exact locations remain largely unknown, as does their current condition — whether they lie scattered or clustered, intact or leaking.

The current research mission focuses on an area believed to hold roughly half of that waste. The 21-member team aims to map the barrels’ positions and collect numerous water, sediment, and marine life samples. They are aided by Ulyx, an autonomous underwater robot equipped with 3D imaging and sonar, which helps locate and analyze underwater objects.

The long-term risk of the dumped waste remains unclear. Project leader Patrick Chardon believes that most of the radioactive materials will lose their harmful radioactivity after 300 to 400 years. The barrels were built to withstand deep-sea pressure, he says, but not to fully contain radioactivity over centuries. The nuclear physicist suspects radiation may already be leaking from many of them.

By Nazrin Sadigova