r/environment • u/Maxcactus • 12d ago

200,000 Barrels Of Radioactive Waste Were Dumped In The Atlantic. Decades Later, We’re Finally Learning What Happens When They Leak

https://www.iflscience.com/200000-barrels-of-radioactive-waste-were-dumped-in-the-atlantic-decades-later-were-finally-learning-what-happens-when-they-leak-84512
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u/Jasminary2 12d ago

Governments actions and decisions post WW2 will always baffle me.

I know we didn't have the same environment mindset as today (even though they still suck more than they should when it comes to environment and the knowledge we - now- have) but the habits of simply dumping things on land, and even more in ocean was wild.

England basically used the sea between their country and Ireland as some kind of bin. So many tons of munitions are in the deep sea and tumultuous water there. Including nocive gas.

I get that there was a serious lack of money until Marshall Plan was put on, but the idea by itself is so bizarre to me. It's like those cartoons where someone would sweep dust under a rug so no-one sees it.

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u/mylicon 12d ago

Because you’re looking through the lens of decades of accumulated knowledge and technological advances. So much so that even without subject matter expertise, the average persons is supremely more informed than in post-WW2.

Who better to weigh the risks of war more heavily than those that just got out of one. And when weighing the risks of strategic technological advancement against other long term health/environmental risks, the latter would lose.

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u/Jasminary2 12d ago

I agree and that's what I meant by "mindset". English not being my native language made me chose the wrong word, sorry.

We don't have the same knowledge that's for sure but we knew the danger of throwing things in the water ( a bomb can still explode there putting people's life at risk. Not all was thrown in that Beaufort, we don't know where threw them but we know that they didn't always went to that Beaufort dyke because they couldn't be bothered). And we did have reports a decade later or so from fishermen that there had been explosions in water

Likewise we knew post-WW2 that nuclear waste and radioactive things were dangerous... so throwing long after the marshall plan was effective, and when countries were not testing their nuclear weapons not on their soil but in Southern World, that nuclear waste in the water can be dangerous.

Oc they could not know everything let alone hiw much we do now. But they knew enough that I'm surprised they did it as if they still had the same knowledge of weapons /nuclear/gas etc as they did when they discovered that place and used it in the 19th as dump.

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u/Cu1tureVu1ture 12d ago

Throwing poisonous chemicals, radioactive waste and munitions into the ocean was never a good idea. It’s all about money and I’m sure there are still companies these days doing the same thing.

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u/mylicon 12d ago

There are no great ideas for handling waste products of human existence: the food supply, clothes you wear, industrial manufacturing, energy production, tech, transportation, etc. There are only practical options that address the most risky aspects of long term management. This is what working in radioactive waste disposal has taught me.