Nuclear energy Researchers search for thousands of nuclear waste barrels in the Atlantic
Dumping nuclear waste into the ocean seems absurd from today's perspective. But this is exactly what happened on a large scale between the 1950s and the 1980s. At least 200,000 barrels are thought to be in the North-East Atlantic alone.
15.06.2025, 05:40
SDA
A team of European researchers is now setting off in search of the barrels and is traveling to the area where half of the waste probably ended up. Also on board is a scientist from the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology in Bremerhaven.
With the beginnings of nuclear power in Europe, the question of nuclear waste disposal also arose for many countries. The depths of the ocean, far away from the coast and human activity, appeared to be a cheap and easy solution for disposing of what was produced in laboratories during industrial development - at least where the ocean was considered geologically stable. At the time, little was known about life in the world's oceans. It was not until 1993 that the disposal of nuclear waste in the ocean was finally banned.
Barrels do not contain radioactivity
The head of the NODSSUM (Nuclear Ocean Dump Site Survey Monitoring) project, Patrick Chardon, assumes that the radioactivity in the vast majority of nuclear waste that ends up in the North Atlantic will have virtually disappeared after around 300 to 400 years. The nuclear physicist, who works at the Clermont Auvergne laboratory in Clermont-Ferrand, said that only around two percent of the waste has a significantly longer radiation period.
According to Chardon, the drums were designed at the time to withstand the pressure at depth, but not to actually contain the radioactivity. The physicist suspects that radioactivity could have been escaping from the containers for some time.
Diving robot will search the sea for barrels
In the project, 21 scientists now want to spend a month tracking down the barrels, which are probably located at a depth of 3000 to 5000 meters. The search area is located more than 1000 kilometers west of La Rochelle in the Western European Basin of the Atlantic Ocean.
The aim is to reassess the consequences of waste disposal in the sea and to investigate the state of the ecosystem. The experts want to create a map of nuclear barrel finds and take a number of samples of water, soil and animals. They also want to study a reference area in order to compare the results later.
The team will be supported by an autonomous diving robot. The Ulyx robot can descend to depths of up to 6000 meters. In addition to physical and chemical sensors, it has a camera for 3D images and a sonar system for locating objects using sound. The experts want to use the robot's recordings to track down the individual barrels and their condition and record their position. It is currently not known exactly where the containers are located, whether they are lying individually or in groups and whether they are still intact.
The team would need years to search the entire area of their investigation, estimated co-project leader Javier Escartin from the University of ENS Paris. For the four weeks, they are aiming to search around 200 square kilometers in different zones. Based on the robot images, the scientists will then decide exactly where to extract water or animals, for example.
Consequences of storage cannot yet be assessed
In addition to the amount of radioactivity, the researchers are also interested in the environment of the waste - for example, whether the radiation is blocked by sediments or what influence deep currents have.
What consequences could the barrels have? "That's really unknown," said Escartin. "We don't even know the basic ecosystem in the area very well." This is because the deep sea plain is largely unexplored. From the marine geologist's point of view, the exploration of the area will therefore also be of interest beyond the nuclear issue. "Any information will be useful to better understand the system."
After the four-week mission, the collected samples will be sent to various laboratories in Europe. The scientists then want to set sail again to take even more targeted samples. An exact date for the second trip has not yet been set. Escartin hopes that it will be next year.
