Low-Level Radioactive Waste Dumps in the Atlantic Have Become Ecosystems

French and international researchers examined thousands of barrels of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste dumped into the Atlantic Ocean between 1950 and 1990. The barrels are degrading, but local ecosystems appear to have adapted, using the dump sites as shelters rather than treating them as a hazard.

• About 200,000 tons of waste were dumped in the Atlantic in barrels
• Waste was encapsulated in bitumen or cement before disposal
• The Radiocean mission maps the sites and radioisotope levels
• Barrels are degrading, but marine life uses them as a reef