Radioactive plutonium found near Thule

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

Scientists have discovered plutonium in soil near the Thule air base in northern Greenland, where a plane carrying hydrogen bombs crashed in 1968.

A new report from the Danish nuclear laboratory in Risø says the contamination was discovered near the place where a B-2 bomber crashed, about 15 kilometres southwest of the base.

“It cannot be ignored, that the plutonium contamination in the ground could endanger people in the area,” the laboratory said in its report.

Risø’s scientists suggested urine samples be collected and analysed from people who lived or worked in the area, to map out the plutonium’s distribution.

The Inughuit are still fighting to get damages from the Danish state for forcibly removing them from their homes in that area when the base was constructed in the early 1950s.