Desperate plea for help to stop radioactive waste leaking into world’s oceans

A man who worked on a former nuclear test site has begged Washington to provide vital healthcare for illnesses he says are the result of exposure to radioactive waste.

Paul Griego, who was involved in the clean-up operation in the Marshall Islands from June 1977 to October 1978, called for action as fears continue to grow about toxic substances leaking into the sea.

His plea comes as the US government announced it will spend $1,689,000 (£1.32m) analysing the dome structure on Enewetak Atoll in the South Pacific, where the debris of 43 nuclear explosions remains.

There are fears that storms and rising sea levels could make the situation worse, with Islanders worried about a series of health issues, the poisoning of water and the impact on the local eco-system.

But 62-year-old Mr Griego, who said workers sculpted a rubber glove into a rude salute before the structure was sealed, wants the US to also recognise the damage done to the thousands of people who worked on the site between 1977 and 1980.

He said: ‘We need the very same funding and for the very same analysis – the dome can wait for radiochemical analysis but we are human and we cannot wait.

‘As we continue to suffer and to die off the evidence is either buried or cremated.’

The US government continues to insist that veterans of the operation faced low levels of radiation, that they wore protective clothing and that they carried radiation monitoring devices.

However, photos from the time of the operation show men working bare-chested.

And Mr Griego, a former radiochemist from Albuquerque, New Mexico, claims the dosimeter badges the men carried were not fit for purpose – being wrapped in thick plastic and designed for indoor use.

Blaming the exposure for a host of health problems – he continued: ‘We are certain we have the very same radionuclides in our bodies that that would be found in the dome.

‘We were bombarded with radiation while building the dome, we drank the contaminated water, inhaled the dust-filled air, absorbed contaminates though our skin, ate the fish we caught and more.’

Earlier this year, the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres raised concerns that the concrete site was like a ‘coffin’ leaking dangerous waste into the surrounding area.

30 megatons of weapons – equivalent to 2,000 Hiroshimas – were tested on the Enewetak Atoll between 1948 and 1958 before the waste was dumped in the crater two decades later.

The new funding will pay for an 18-month monitoring operation by experts, including a radiochemical groundwater analysis and an engineering survey of the structural integrity of the dome.

But Mr Griego wants further focus on the human impact from the time of the clean-up – claiming veterans have been denied the ‘diagnostic resource and healthcare’ to cover their illnesses, labelling government inaction ‘malicious’.

He added: ‘It places the burden of proof of an illness on the individual rather than the moral responsibility of our government.’

During the operation, workers say they collected contaminated surface soil and radioactive debris, which was then mixed with concrete and dumped it in a nuclear test crater, before it was entombed under a concrete dome.

However, the crater wasn’t lined and concerns have been raised by islanders and veterans alike that the dome is leaking.

A page on the website of the US government’s Department of Veterans Affairs states: ‘Veterans who participated in the clean-up at Enewetak Atoll encountered low levels of radiological contamination, and have a low risk of health problems.

‘Today, residents have very little or no intake of residual radionuclides, with annual radiation doses below US averages.’

Doug Domenech, Assistant US Secretary of the Interior for Insular and International Affairs, said the government was being responsive to concerns.

He said: ‘The US Departments of the Interior and Energy are partnering on this important analysis of Runit Dome so that we can be responsive to both Congress and concerns expressed by the Enewetak community in the Marshall Islands.’