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.
I haven’t really been keeping up with nuclear news, so that’s actually a surprise to me that so many reactors are in-progress!
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the narrative of some is “nuclear is evil” instead of “China is beating us on energy, BUILD MORE TO BEAT THEM!” But oil lobbies really do have their claws into every facet of government… Quadruple down on fossil fuels and smear campaigns, money machine go brrr.
