Tag: radiation

European nations dumped 200,000 barrels of radioactive waste in the ocean, and humans might soon pay the price

A team of scientists has found 3,355 barrels of radioactive waste at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The discovery was made at a depth of 13,000 feet, and hundreds of miles offshore from France. This is only a tiny part of the actual number of barrels filled with nuclear waste scattered at the bottom of the sea. Between 1946 and 1990, over 200,000 such barrels were dumped by European nations, assuming it was the best way to keep people on land safe. This was done under the supervision of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), a body comprising 34 countries that is tasked with ensuring nuclear safety and waste management. But now there are fears that this waste can reach humans via the food chain. Scientists have warned that this radioactive material could be absorbed by marine life, which can enter sea creatures and then humans who eat the contaminated seafood. This could cause long-term health issues, damage tissues, and increase the risk of cancer.

The barrels are not capable of holding the contents inside them forever. They were designed to release the radioactive material slowly, but surely. They had a life span of 20 to 26 years, and that time is already gone. So what next? The French scientists are on a mission to understand what would happen to these barrels. In the first leg, they used sonar and the autonomous underwater robot UlyX to map the Abyssal Plains. They said that most of the radioactive material in these barrels is weak and does not pose any immediate risk to humans since it is deep inside the ocean. However, this does not mitigate the long-term effects, which include contaminating marine life and entering the food chain. About one-third of the material in these barrels was tritium, which is considered insignificant. The rest are beta and gamma emitters, which lose radioactivity, with about two per cent being alpha radiation.

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New Recall of Potentially Radioactive Cocktail Shrimp in 27 US States

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Aug. 28 a new recall of cocktail shrimp sold in Walmart stores across 27 states for potential contamination due to being prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions where they may have become contaminated with cesium-137 (Cs-137).

Seattle-based AquaStar (USA) Corp is recalling approximately 26,460 6-ounce packages of cocktail shrimp, imported from Indonesia, and sold between July 31 and Aug. 16.

The states in which they have been sold are Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin,

A day earlier, on Aug. 27, the FDA issued a similar recall warning for frozen cooked shrimp sold across 17 states. In that instance, the importer, Aquastar, had recalled approximately 18,000 bags (net weight 2 pounds) of Kroger Mercado Cooked Medium Peeled Tail-Off Shrimp.

Both recalls are an expansion of recent recalls by Walmart and other distributors.

Cs-137 is a man-made radioisotope of the extremely reactive metal cesium, the FDA said.

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FDA Warns About Potentially Radioactive Frozen Shrimp Sold at Walmart Stores

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday issued a public warning against potentially radioactive frozen shrimp products sold at Walmart stores in several states.

The FDA alert urged the public not to consume, sell, or serve certain Great Value raw frozen shrimp due to possible contamination with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.

Impacted Shrimp Products

Walmart also shared the FDA’s warning on its website.

The impacted raw frozen shrimp products were sold under the Great Value brand at stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.

The impacted products have been stamped with lot codes 8005540-1, 8005538-1, and 8005539-1.

They also have Best by Dates of 3/15/2027.

What is Cesium-137?

Cesium-137, also referred to as Cs-137, is a radioactive isotope of cesium that is man-made through nuclear reactions, according to the FDA. The agency says because Cs-137 is “widespread worldwide,” trace amounts of the radioisotope can be found in soil, food, and the air.

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Startup Says It Can Transform Mercury into Gold

A Californian startup, Marathon Fusion, aims to produce gold through nuclear fusion by converting mercury-198 into gold-197 using neutron radiation from fusion reactors. Unlike particle accelerators like CERN’s Large Hadron Collider—which produce negligible amounts of gold at enormous costs—Marathon Fusion proposes using a standard fusion reactor fuel mix (deuterium and tritium) to create the necessary neutron flux, theoretically enabling substantial gold production. Their estimates, derived from a fusion reactor’s “digital twin,” suggest a plant could yield several tons of gold annually per gigawatt of thermal power. However, the feasibility of this process remains untested, as no commercial fusion reactors exist, and the gold produced would initially be radioactive, requiring careful management. Significant scientific, technological, and economic challenges must be addressed before this ambitious concept can lead to a modern-day gold rush.

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Radioactive Wasp Nest Discovered Near South Carolina Nuclear Weapon Facility

A radioactive wasp nest has been discovered near a former nuclear weapon manufacturing facility in South Carolina.

The nest was found by workers at the Savannah River Site in Aiken County, according to a report from the Department of Energy.

According to reports, the contaminated nest was found on July 3, just before 2 p.m., by Radiological Control Operations workers during routine inspections.

Located on a stanchion near a tank in the F-Area tank farm, the nest registered a staggering 100,000 disintegrations per minute (dpm), a level described as “moderately high” radiation.

Workers promptly sprayed the nest to eliminate the wasps, which were then bagged and disposed of as radiological waste.

The Associated Press reports:

The report said there is no leak from the waste tanks, and the nest was likely radioactive through what it called “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” from the residual radioactivity left from when the site was fully operational.

The watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch said the report was at best incomplete since it doesn’t detail where the contamination came from, how the wasps might have encountered it and the possibility there could be another radioactive nest if there is a leak somewhere.

Knowing the type of wasp nest could also be critical — some wasps make nest out of dirt and others use different material which could pinpoint where the contamination came from, Tom Clements, executive director of the group, wrote in a text message.

Thankfully, no contamination was detected in the surrounding ground or area, but the very presence of radioactive insects highlights the persistent threats from “onsite legacy contamination” tied to the site’s history of producing plutonium and tritium for nuclear bombs during the Cold War era.

“I’m as mad as a hornet that SRS didn’t explain where the radioactive waste came from or if there is some kind of leak from the waste tanks that the public should be aware of,” Clements told AP.

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Iran Confirms Internal Radioactive Contamination at Natanz Nuclear Site After Israeli Airstrike — Claims No Radiation Leak to Public

Israel yesterday launched a targeted airstrike against Iran’s Natanz uranium‑enrichment facility.

Iran’s own Atomic Energy Organization now confirms that radioactive contamination was found inside the site, but emphasizes there has been no radiation leak into the surrounding environment, declaring, “no public risk.”

On Friday morning, Israeli military forces attacked several locations in Iran, including residential areas in the capital, Tehran. Several explosions were heard across the country.

At the same time, images of several locations in Tehran being targeted were posted on social media. The Israeli Minister of War issued a decree declaring a special state of emergency on Friday morning.

The international news reported Thursday that numerous countries recalled their officials from many embassies in the Middle East prior to the anticipated Israeli strikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Thursday night’s strike targeted and successfully hit one of Iran’s top nuclear facilities.

“Iran has produced enough highly enriched uranium for nine atom bombs, nine,” Netanyahu said. “In recent months, Iran is taking steps that it has never taken before, steps to weaponize this enriched uranium. And if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time.”

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The U.S. government secretly dosed millions with radioactive iodine—and what they’re hiding now

The invisible poison: How I-131 infiltrated America

Unlike natural background radiation, I-131 is a man-made isotope with a sinister affinity for the thyroid gland. Once released, it clung to grass, seeped into cows’ milk, and found its way into the bodies of unsuspecting children—the most vulnerable to its effects. The National Cancer Institute admits that nearly every American alive during the testing era ingested this radioactive poison. Yet, at the time, officials dismissed concerns, assuring the public that fallout was “harmless.”

Historical records reveal a darker truth: the government knew. Internal documents from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) acknowledged the risks but prioritized Cold War dominance over public safety. As Princeton’s research shows, fallout maps paint a damning picture—radioactive particles didn’t stop at state lines. They blanketed the nation, carried by rain into soil, water, and food supplies.

The great betrayal: Lies, lawsuits, and a legacy of suffering

The government’s silence wasn’t just negligence—it was a criminal conspiracy. By the time the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was passed in 1990, generations had already suffered. Thyroid cancer rates spiked in high-fallout zones, yet victims were met with bureaucratic hurdles. “Prove it was our nukes,” officials demanded, knowing full well that decades-old exposures were nearly impossible to trace.

Dr. Helen Caldicott, a renowned anti-nuclear advocate, put it bluntly: “This was a mass poisoning, sanctioned by the state.” Even today, RECA’s payouts are a pittance compared to the suffering inflicted. And what of the unstudied fallout from Soviet tests, Pacific detonations, or Hiroshima’s radioactive blow back? Researchers suspect California and the Pacific Northwest bore the brunt—but without comprehensive studies, the full toll remains hidden.

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Effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure on cancer in laboratory animal studies, a systematic review

More than ten years ago, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a monograph concluding there was limited evidence in experimental animals for carcinogenicity of Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Field (RF EMF).

Objective

The objective of this review was to systematically evaluate the effects of RF EMF exposure on cancer in experimental animals.

Methods

Eligibility criteria: Based on pre-established Populations, Exposures, Comparators, Outcomes, and Study Type (PECOS) criteria, studies in experimental animals of the following study types were included: chronic cancer bioassays, initiation-(co–)promotion studies, and studies with tumor-prone animals.

Information sources: MEDLINE (PubMed), Science Citation Index Expanded and Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science), and the EMF Portal.

Data abstraction and synthesis: Data are publicly available online as interactive visuals with downloadable metadata. We adapted the risk-of-bias (RoB) tool developed by Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) to include considerations pertinent to the evaluation of RF EMF exposure and cancer bioassays. Study sensitivity was assessed with a tool adopted from the Report on Carcinogens (RoC). We synthesized studies using a narrative approach. Effect size was calculated as the 1% Bayesian Average benchmark dose (BMD) of a respective study when dose–response or a trend was identified (see BMDAnalysisSupplementaryMaterial) (Supplement 1).

Evidence Assessment: Certainty of the evidence (CoE) was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Developing and Evaluations (GRADE) approach, as refined by OHAT. Evidence from chronic cancer bioassays was considered the most directly applicable to evaluation of carcinogenicity.

Results

We included 52 studies with 20 chronic bioassays No studies were excluded based on risk of bias concerns. Studies were not considered suitable for meta-analysis due to heterogeneity in study design, species, strain, sex, exposure characteristics, and cancer outcome. No or minimal evidence of RF EMF exposure-related cancer outcomes was found in most systems or organs in any study (these included gastrointestinal/digestive, kidney, mammary gland, urinary, endocrine, musculoskeletal, reproductive, and auditory).

For lymphoma (18 studies), with 6 chronic bioassays (1,120 mice, 1,780 rats) inconsistency between two chronic bioassays was not plausibly explainable, and the CoE for lymphoma was rated ‘moderate’.

For brain tumors (20 studies), including 5 chronic bioassays (1,902 mice, 6,011 rats), an increase in glial cell-derived neoplasms was reported in two chronic bioassays in male rats. The CoE for an increased risk in glioma was judged as high. The BMD analysis was statistically significant for only one study and the BMD was 4.25 (95% CI 2.70, 10.24).

For neoplasms of the heart (4 chronic bioassays with 6 experiments), 3 studies were performed in rats (∼2,165 animals), and 1 in mice (∼720 animals). Based on 2 bioassays, statistically significant increases in malignant schwannomas was judged as high CoE for an increase in heart schwannomas in male rats. The BMDs from the two positive studies were 1.92 (95 %CI 0.71, 4.15) and 0.177 (95 %CI 0.125, 0.241), respectively.

Twelve studies reported neoplasms in the adrenal gland (5 chronic bioassays). The CoE for an increased risk in pheochromocytoma was judged as moderate. None of these findings were dose-dependent when compared to the sham controls.

Sixteen studies investigated tumors of the liver with 5 of these being chronic bioassays. The CoE was evaluated as moderate for hepatoblastomas.

For neoplasms of the lung (3 chronic bioassays), 8 studies were conducted in rats (∼1,296 animals) and 23 studies in mice (∼2,800 animals). In one chronic bioassay, a statistically significant positive trend was reported for bronchoalveolar adenoma or carcinoma (combined), which was rated as moderate CoE for an increase in lung neoplasms with some evidence from 2 initiation-(co–)promotion studies.

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NIH Redacts Nearly 2,500 Pages Of Records On Wireless Radiation Studies

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) refuses to reveal nearly 2,500 pages of records related to the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) decision to shut down its research on how wireless radiation affects human health, according to an investigation by The Defender.

In January 2024, the NTP announced it had no plans to further study the effects of cellphone radiofrequency radiation (RFR) on human health — even though the program’s own 10-year, $30 million study, completed in 2018, found “clear evidence” of cancer and DNA damage.

In April 2024, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) filed requests to the NIH under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain records related to why the government shut down the research.

Miriam Eckenfels, director of CHD’s Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) & Wireless Program said, “First and foremost, we want the science done.”

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Radioactive Oatmeal: The Shocking Story of How MIT, Quaker Oats, and the Government Exploited Children

In 1945, as the world was recovering from the devastation of World War II, a group of scientists at MIT conducted an experiment that would later be revealed as one of the most unethical studies in modern history. At the Fernald State School in Massachusetts, young boys—many of them vulnerable and voiceless—were fed radioactive oatmeal. The goal? To study how their bodies absorbed iron and calcium. But the real story here isn’t just about science. It’s about betrayal, exploitation, and a shocking disregard for human dignity.

This wasn’t some rogue experiment conducted in a hidden lab. It was a calculated effort involving respected institutions: MIT, Quaker Oats, and the U.S. government. Together, they crossed a line that should never have been approached, let alone crossed.

The “Science Club” That Masked a Dark Agenda

Imagine being a young boy, maybe 10 or 12 years old, told you’re part of something special. A science club! You get extra food, perhaps even a sense of belonging. But instead of being celebrated, you’re being used. The scientists behind this experiment weren’t just studying nutrition. They were helping Quaker Oats prove their cereal was healthy. That’s right—a corporate agenda disguised as research.

The boys were given oatmeal laced with radioactive isotopes. These isotopes acted as tracers, allowing scientists to track how iron and calcium moved through their bodies. But here’s the thing: radiation isn’t harmless. Even in small amounts, it can cause long-term damage. And these boys? They had no idea what they were consuming.

Guardians Left in the Dark

The guardians of these boys—parents or caretakers—trusted the system. They believed their children were in good hands. But the truth? They were lied to. Consent forms were vague, if they were given at all. No one explained the risks. No one mentioned the word “radioactive.”

This wasn’t just a failure of ethics. It was a deliberate choice. The researchers knew what they were doing. They knew the public would never approve. So they kept it quiet. They hid behind the guise of science and progress.

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