Much of the land near the atomic bomb’s birthplace was converted to recreational areas, but toxic waste remains

Soil, plants and water along popular recreation spots near Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, are contaminated with “extreme concentrations” of plutonium, a new study has found, but calls for the federal government to act have been dismissed.

Michael Ketterer, a Northern Arizona University scientist and lead researcher on the project, said the plutonium levels in and around New Mexico’s Acid Canyon were among the highest he had ever seen in a publicly accessible area in the US during his decades-long career – comparable to what is found in Ukraine at the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

The radioactive isotopes are “hiding in plain sight”, Ketterer said.

    • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Yup. The radiation from the tests spread it around so much that there’s a geographic geological level in the rock record.

      • Brokkr@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Do you mean geologic, not geographic?

        How does that work though? Sedimentary rocks formed in the last 100 years must be way deeper than any of the soil that could be affected by the atmosphere?

        Or am I overthinking this and you’re saying that there’s an indicator in recent soil deposits that correlates to radioactive testing.

        • Jesusaurus@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Maybe it’s soil vs rock? I think that there wouldnt have been enough time for new layers to form given how slow of a process it is

          • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            Yeah it’s in the soil. It can be dated.
            I did mean geologic. Coffee was only beginning to be consumed when I wrote that.