By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Energy secretary is expected to build trust with the Republic of the Marshall Islands by developing a plan to communicate clearly about persistent threats from a radioactive waste dump left behind by U.S. nuclear weapons tests, now considered at risk of flooding due to the climate. change, a US agency said on Wednesday.
The United States conducted 67 nuclear bomb tests on the Marshall Islands from 1946 to 1958. In the late 1970s it deposited soil and radioactive debris from six islands into an unlined crater created by one of the tests. The site, called Runit Dome, was covered by a concrete cap but is now at risk of leaks due to flooding from rising sea levels caused by climate change, Marshallese officials said.
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress, said in a report that the Secretary of Energy “should develop and document a radioactive contamination communications strategy that is sustained, understandable, transparent, involves the government RMI and build on lessons learned. learned.”
The Department of Energy, which agreed with the recommendation in the report, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A 2011 law requires the DOE to conduct visual studies of the dome and analyzes of the groundwater surrounding it.
The GAO report said rising sea levels could raise groundwater levels under the dome, “potentially creating a pathway for radiation to escape.”
The DOE and RMI disagree about the radiological dangers posed by the dome, he said.
The Marshall Islands embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report, requested by Democratic Senator Tom Carper, also contains information about radioactive contamination in southern Spain after two U.S. defense planes carrying four thermonuclear bombs collided in mid-air in 1966, scattering debris over a wide area. It also examines radioactive contamination in Greenland resulting from US Cold War activities.