The Bikini Islands and Nuclear Waste

This is a photo from one of the nuclear tests.

On Sunday, I was surprised about Gregory Jaczko's op ed focusing on the cost of nuclear power and not mentioning the issue of nuclear waste. Today, however, the Post (here) has a fascinating article about nuclear waste in the Marshall Islands.

I learned that the United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean, from 1946 to 1958 -- but we didn't focus on cleaning up the nuclear waste until 1977.

Some of the tests were conducted in the Enewetak Atoll, which is part of the Marshall Islands. Here are the Post's details about disposal/ storage of the waste:

"Beginning in 1977, 4,000 U.S. service members began collecting an estimated 73,000 cubic meters of tainted surface soil across the islands ... The material was then transported to Runit Island, where a 328-foot crater remained from a May 1958 test explosion. For three years, the American military dumped the material into the crater.  

In 1980, a massive concrete dome — 18 inches thick and shaped like a flying saucer — was placed over the fallout debris, sealing off the material on Runit. But the $218 million project was only supposed to be temporary until a more permanent site was developed ... However, no further plans were ever hatched."

Now, as climate change causes the sea levels around Enewetak Atoll to rise, there is concern that the dome could leak or be breached.

621. This is precisely the issue that Sunday's op ed brought to my mind (but didn't examine): what is the current state of affairs regarding the disposal of nuclear waste? Have we come up with a better, safer system? How much attention is this topic receiving among scientists -- and is the attention waning because people are focusing more attention on wind and solar, and less attention on nuclear power?