Nuclear bomb blast site leaking radiation

A giant concrete dome filled with nuclear waste is leaking radiation. Built on a remote Pacific island in the late 1970s to contain the detritus from numerous U.S. nuclear bomb tests, it is succumbing to weathering
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OPERATION HARDTACK

Seventh of eight Cold War operations in Pacific Proving Grounds – comprising 35 nuclear bomb tests

May 5, 1958: 18-kiloton “Cactus” nuclear bomb detonated on Enewetak Atoll

PACIFIC PROVING GROUNDS

1946-1962: Eight operations, totalling 105 nuclear bomb explosions, carried out in Pacific Ocean

MARSHALL ISLANDS

Bikini Atoll

Enewetak Atoll

Majuro

250km 150 miles

U.S. Japan

Enewetak Atoll MARSHALL ISLANDS Pacific Ocean

Australia

CACTUS DOME

1977-1979: U.S. military attempts to decontaminate radioactive islands

73,000m3 of contaminated soil and debris collected, mixed with cement and buried under concrete dome in 9m-deep Cactus blast crater 110m

Cactus Dome RUNIT ISLAND

2009: Major storm carves sea channel up to edge of dome

2013: U.S. government report says soil around dome more contaminated than its contents

Today: Scientists fear typhoon or storm surge could crack dome open
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Sources: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, American Chemical Society, Atlas Obscura

Pictures: National Nuclear Security Administration, Getty Images, Google Maps

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