University of Wisconsin–Madison

America's Forgotten Nuclear Waste Dump in the Pacific

Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2015
Level Other Boards and Agencies
State(s) All States
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Environment & Natural Resources
Unknown to many specialists in the field, the United States built a repository in the late 1970s, filled it with plutonium waste, and walked away. It has no signs, guards, or fences and it is on an island threatened by the rising seas. The site is in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, halfway between Hawaii and Australia. This article recounts the origins of this repository, known as the Runit dome, the unsuccessful efforts of the people of the Marshall Islands to obtain adequate compensation for the losses they endured as a result of the nuclear testing program in their homeland, and the likely future of the dome and of the nation.

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