Scientists hold US nuclear tests responsible for South China Sea radioactivity
- Researchers say radioactive pollutants from Marshall Islands testing in the Cold War are still arriving on Pacific Ocean currents
- One expert suggests China could join other countries demanding the US repair environmental damage caused by its massive nuclear programme
The peer-reviewed study, published in the Chinese language journal Environmental Chemistry, will help China’s “environmental assessment” of the region, according to the team, led by Peng Anguo, an associate professor with the University of South China.
The study found that radioactive pollutants from the US Pacific Proving Ground (PPG) tests were carried by ocean currents more than 5,000km (3,000 miles) and spread throughout the South China Sea.
The researchers said the pollutants are still present in the region today, including in some previously unchartered areas in the waterway’s south.
The findings are likely to add to tensions in the South China Sea, where China and other countries have overlapping claims to islands, reefs and other features.
