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Lingering Radioactivity

April 22, 2018

A research team led by WHOI scientists collects samples of groundwater from a well on Enewetak Atoll, one of the tiny Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean (from left, WHOI researcher Paul Henderson, Eddy Maddison, a Marshall Islands observer and diver, and WHOI geochemist Matt Charette). Between 1946 and 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear weapons tests on the island. In 2015, Charette and WHOI geochemist Ken Buesseler led a research team that investigated the sources, flow, and extent of radioactive contaminants on Bikini and Enewetak Atolls nearly 70 years after the nuclear testing. They found lingering and ongoing releases of radioactivity in the region. (Photo by Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)