WATER ABLAZE - Patagonia Sin Represas

11.7 Nuclear Weapons – Radioactive Contamination in
“Times of Peace”
Many forms of environmental, air and water contamination do not
confine themselves to one area only, a fact which the radioactive fallout
from the Chernobyl accident brought home to us all. The following
examples further illustrate this point. One of these is the aftermath
of the release of radioactive substances into the environment via
nuclear weapons, atomic power stations, permanent disposal sites,
depleted uranium missiles – like the ones used by the USA – and
nuclear submarines which have been sunk and are now decaying at
the bottom of the ocean. The Russian fleet alone once had over 200
nuclear submarines, more than a hundred of which have already been
removed from the inventory. Many of these are lying on the seabed.
The submarine K 219, situated off the coast of Bermuda, has 32 atomic
warheads and two torpedoes on board, as well as its own reactors.
Other submarine wrecks are to found in Murmansk harbour with
high-level radioactive material still on board.
This poses an enormous threat to our drinking water, too, because
the casing of the reactors and nuclear weapons lying on the ocean bed
will inevitably rust through in the course of time and the radioactive
material inside will be set free. Radioactivity is gradually getting
into the fresh water cycle via evaporation and rainfall entering the
biosphere. At the end of the day, sea water and drinking water are
connected in a single hydrological cycle.
Let us remain on the topic of Russia: since 1957, the island of Novaya
Semlya had been used as a nuclear test site and the world’s largest
hydrogen bomb was detonated there. In all, 132 nuclear tests were
carried out in and around the island, 86 of these in the atmosphere, 43
underground and three underwater.
Numerous nuclear submarines were sunk in the vicinity after being
taken out of service. The authorities decided to set up a permanent
disposal site for nuclear waste there, since the level of radioactive
contamination was anyway high. In the Barents Sea, a large number
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