The concrete-domed radioactive landfill of Runit Island
Sunday, March 08, 2009  |  Permalink
Runit Island

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21 Comment(s)
Anonymous Anonymous said...
( March 9, 2009 3:13:00 AM CDT )  
See it on Google Maps: http://tinyurl.com/RunitIsland
Anonymous namhenderson said...
( March 9, 2009 8:13:00 AM CDT )  
Talk about a real-life megastructure....
Blogger Ari Herzog said...
( March 9, 2009 10:34:00 AM CDT )  
Can it support solar panels or wind turbines on site?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
( March 9, 2009 1:30:00 PM CDT )  
assuming it could support solar or wind what exactly would it power? Goodle map show some sort of civilization to the south. Might as well locate it there and not have to traverse the perimeter of the atol.
Anonymous Steff Z said...
( March 9, 2009 7:12:00 PM CDT )  
On the google map, it looks like there is still a crater (or another crater) about 30 ft deep and the same diameter of the dome, right next to the dome, in the water about 100 ft to the NE (just left of the frame of the above photo). Were there two craters? Or did they put the radioactive fill on land nearby because it was easier?
Blogger thomaspa said...
( March 10, 2009 3:34:00 AM CDT )  
t4ats like t4e MAD MAX bastard stepbrot4er of VELODROME berlin http://www.floornature.com/worldaround/img_magazine/wr383_01_popup.jpg
Anonymous Georgia (localecology.org) said...
( March 10, 2009 8:11:00 PM CDT )  
Interesting. Just reading about Sacramento's decomm nuclear plant Rancho Seco. View http://www.satellite-sightseer.com/id/6040/United_States/California/Sacramento/Rancho_Seco_Nuclear_Power_Plant.
Blogger Alexander Trevi said...
( March 10, 2009 10:56:00 PM CDT )  
Steff Z,

According to this website, there were several tests conducted around the Enewetak Atoll. The one referred to in the label -- the Cactus test -- was conducted at least 3 feet above the ground surface of Runit Island. Other bombs were detonated in the lagoon, such as in the Umbrella test (150 feet below the surface) and the Yellowwood test (on a barge).

To clarify things a bit, we also read that "in 1979-1980 [the crater from the Cactus test] was used as a burial pit to inter 110,000 cubic yards of radioactive soil scraped from the various contaminated Enewetak Atoll islands."
Blogger Alexander Trevi said...
( March 10, 2009 10:57:00 PM CDT )  
And by the way, thanks, Anonymous (MARCH 9, 2009 3:13:00 AM CDT), for the Google Maps link!

And to thomaspa & Georgia for the images!
Anonymous Anonymous said...
( March 13, 2009 2:49:00 PM CDT )  
Are those people walking on the surface?
EJ
Blogger Alexander Trevi said...
( March 13, 2009 3:09:00 PM CDT )  
Are those people walking on the surface?

Yes.
Anonymous lucy said...
( March 22, 2009 8:21:00 AM CDT )  
Is it safe to walk on the surface, by no means is this a pretty design but it is functional - I am not sure I am convinced that radioactive material can be stopped by concrete
Anonymous steff said...
( March 22, 2009 8:58:00 AM CDT )  
looking it up on google earth, have you noticed the strange tree formations on the islands north of this one? anybody knows what they are?
Blogger Alexander Trevi said...
( March 22, 2009 5:08:00 PM CDT )  
steff,

Did you mean these tree formations? http://tinyurl.com/cnc3pr

At first I thought the trees were part of an afforestation project, but the gridded layout is more indicative of cultivation. But what is being farmed? Commercial lumber? Coconut products, including coconut oil, soaps, body oil and foodstuff? One wonders if residual radiation is now at such a low level that applying body oil on the skin, for instance, is safe enough.

With a bit of googling I found this article by AFP about using coconut oil to generate electricity in remote Pacific islands. One processing plant experimenting with turning coconut oil into a diesel fuel substitute is located in the capital of the Marshall Islands, the island group to which Runit Island, part of Enewetak Atoll, belongs.
Blogger New Orleans Ladder said...
( March 31, 2009 10:18:00 AM CDT )  
Hey Man,
we have been orgying all on your Fisk Maps at Flicker, and hung one onto today's New Orleans Ladder, with links and all'dat.
You are Herolero! We also hung you on our list of Stitch'hikas.

I first ran across one here: http://www.blueshighway.org/ which ironically is where I grew up.

Please come check us out, and if you want hook us up wit'yo thang too. Please fang back through the archives. Help us get ready for flood/hurricane season. Have a good time!

I really really really like your blog.
Thank youz,
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder
http://noladder.blogspot.com/
Blogger Blaize said...
( April 6, 2009 2:41:00 PM CDT )  
Must re-read Ballard's "The Terminal Beach"....
Blogger Chkn said...
( April 8, 2009 5:58:00 PM CDT )  
It looks like a giant ash tray
Anonymous Anonymous said...
( April 11, 2009 2:34:00 PM CDT )  
Some might mistake that for a mothership UFO!
Anonymous Anonymous said...
( June 17, 2009 8:28:00 PM CDT )  
6/17/09

Aloha!

It is extremly sad that the young people of the Marshall Islands - that live in Hawai`i are unaware of what the U.S. has did to their homeland. An anti-propaganda educational thang would be GREAT.

Also, empowerment of their magnificent navigational skills & cultural identity which has been lost to the younger folks. The roots of their amazing lifestyle prior to the horrific nuclear bombing of their islands.

SUPERFUND Sight should be cleaned up ~ That the people may return to live their lives prior to radioactive Hell.

God Bless the Marshallese people & the clean up of their homelands ~ that their lives may return ~ Proud & whole ~ being able to live a subsistence life style without cancer induced by radioactive contamination!

Much Aloha ~ bpb
Anonymous Anonymous said...
( August 27, 2009 1:10:00 PM CDT )  
I was one of the many that served my time there in the late 70's I hope that one day the american people will see that the one's that cleaned this mess up are now having health problems because of it. I only hope you will all see
Anonymous Anonymous said...
( October 4, 2009 8:51:00 AM CDT )  
Look at the Hanford Site in the US...Another big mess the atom boys created!
And of course Karabolka in Russia!

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