Runit Island looks like a tiny piece of paradise in the middle of the Pacific. But beneath a massive concrete dome lies one of the most disturbing legacies of the nuclear age.
Between 1946 and 1958, the United States carried out dozens of nuclear tests across the Marshall Islands. Enewetak Atoll became one of the most heavily contaminated places on Earth.
Decades later, radioactive soil, debris and contaminated equipment were gathered together and buried inside a massive crater on Runit Island. The result was the structure now known as the Runit Dome — hundreds of concrete panels covering material that was never intended to remain there forever.
But the dome is only part of the story.
What happened to the radioactive waste left across Enewetak? Why was Runit Island chosen as a dumping site? And what happens when a concrete structure built as a temporary solution has to survive for generations?
From the nuclear tests of the Cold War to the massive cleanup operation that followed, this is the story of Runit Island and the radioactive legacy of Enewetak Atoll.
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host, Ryan Socash.
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