Suva (Fiji) (AFP)
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised
concerns Thursday that a concrete dome built last century to contain waste from
atomic bomb tests is leaking radioactive material into the Pacific.
Speaking to students in Fiji, Guterres described
the structure on Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands as "a kind of
coffin" and said it was a legacy of Cold War-era nuclear tests in the
Pacific
"The Pacific was victimised in the past as
we all know," he said, referring to nuclear explosions carried out by the
United States and France in the region.
In the Marshalls, numerous islanders were
forcibly evacuated from ancestral lands and resettled, while thousands more
were exposed to radioactive fallout.
The island nation was ground zero for 67
American nuclear weapons tests from 1946-58 at Bikini and Enewetak atolls, when
it was under US administration.
The tests included the 1954 "Bravo"
hydrogen bomb, the most powerful ever detonated by the United States, about
1,000 times bigger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Guterres, who is touring the South Pacific to
raise awareness of climate change issues, said Pacific islanders still needed
help to deal with the fallout of the nuclear testing.
"The consequences of these have been quite
dramatic, in relation to health, in relation to the poisoning of waters in some
areas," he said.
"I've just been with the President of the
Marshall Islands (Hilda Heine), who is very worried because there is a risk of
leaking of radioactive materials that are contained in a kind of coffin in the
area."
The "coffin" is a concrete dome, built
in the late 1970s on Runit island, part of Enewetak atoll, as a dumping ground
for waste from the nuclear tests.
Radioactive soil and ash from the explosions was
tipped into a crater and capped with a concrete dome 45 centimetres (18 inches)
thick.
However, it was only envisaged as a temporary
fix and the bottom of the crater was never lined leading to fears the waste is
leaching into the Pacific.
Cracks have also developed in the concrete after
decades of exposure and there are concerns it could break apart if hit by a
tropical cyclone.
Guterres did not directly address what should be
done with the dome but said the Pacific's nuclear history still needed to be
addressed.
"A lot needs to be done in relation to the
explosions that took place in French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands,"
he said.
"This is in relation to the health
consequences, the impact on communities and other aspects.
"Of course there are questions of
compensation and mechanisms to allow these impacts to be minimised."
