Gabbard Seeks Report On Pacific Nuclear Waste Dome
Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands is reportedly leaking nuclear waste.
U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii wants the federal government to provide more information on a dome holding radioactive nuclear waste leftover from U.S. nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands.
Gabbard proposed an amendment that has been added to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, according to a press release from her office.
It would “require the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Defense to provide an unclassified public report on the current state of the Runit Dome nuclear waste facility,” the press release said.
The dome was created to hold 111,000 cubic yards of nuclear waste and was supposed to be a temporary structure, the Guardian reported in 2015. Leaders of the Republic of the Marshall Islands have expressed concerns about leaks.
If Gabbard’s amendment becomes law, the report would describe the condition of the dome and its potential environmental and public health impacts.
鈥淭he U.S. government is responsible for this storage site and must ensure the protection of the people and our environment from the toxic waste stored there,鈥 Gabbard said in the press release.
