Old nuclear bomb tests are still haunting us today

In 1946, the American military detonated a nuke underwater in the Pacific Ocean to see what would happen to abandoned warships nearby. In this video, we trace the far-reaching consequences of that test. It leads all the way to the present day; to a major American city; and to a nuclear scandal that’s cost millions and has put people behind bars.
Thanks to our friends at Curbed for their collaboration on this story. You can follow their excellent reporting here: bit.ly/2NAxLVC
Some historical documents to check out:
www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0425/ML042...
www.documentcloud.org/documen...
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[@VergeScience]

Would you live in that housing development?

[@ecalray]

Verge Science hi

[@Bluestar12]

Knowing the history of the place and the knowledge that the ground it resides on still might be contaminated, probably not. But that's a tricky question. If they have a housing crisis, that might be the only housing solution that fits the budget.

[@h____________]

Yeet

[@engr.nemuelobas4923]

I hope you'll produce also a video about the radioactive waste sitting beneath the dome at marshall islands

[@joehart6030]

The Gov has quietly raised the acceptable levels of permissible rad exposure - so not to worry! LOL

[@MrJuanmarin99]

Tetra Tech sounds like an evil corporation from a movie.

[@AikonikBoy]

except they're real, and you should be questioning who (like the government) would benefit from falsifying those soil samples to ensure the land parcel was still sold and developed.

[@itzdcx7991]

Yeah well that’s cus it’s real

[@mikestein1024]

Yes it's the same company that made the virus from resident evil lol

[@kilroywashere9343]

Angel Marin it really does

[@usahenry]

Who lives in a radioactive pineapple under the sea? No one anymore

[@avrhamcom]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@The_Otherguy]

SpongeBob TrianglePants

[@1967buickriviera]

The Otherguy Lol

[@johnwalker4570]

not white people.

[@ununseptium7961]

Don't mess with rich people housing. If these had been low rent apartments, RIP to the inhabitants.

[@Hectilius]

unun septium a sad truth

[@whhe11]

Unfortunately true.

[@johnwalker4570]

wait, only black people were affected and your trying to say there were rich people there? rich black people don't exist so your argument doesn't work.

[@nilsgeburek6279]

Great video! Production quality is stellar!! :)

[@emiliofernandez7117]

You know what haunts San Franciscans? House prices

[@Meat-Puppet]

liberalism?

[@keithgoreham1463]

I used to live in SF back during the tech boom, and for a few years of the bust. Rent-control, and strong political opposition to ANY new housing developments is what keeps housing prices there sky-high. Nobody who owns property in SF has any incentive to build something new, maintain what they have, or lower their rental prices when vacancies are high.

[@colonelcat8639]

Emilio Fernandez I didn’t believe it until i saw it myself. First with Los Angeles, houses crammed next to one another for almost twice for what I have in the Appalachian mountains. Then went up to San Francisco and the prices seemed to rise exponentially.

[@emiliofernandez7117]

Frickin Mustache lol I’m actually going to Toronto in November I’ll check it out

[@avrhamcom]

And drugs

[@274pacific]

7:08 "Tetra Tech's lawyer stormed out to jeers from the audience"

[@SamMulwa]

they were clearly saying it sarcastically and you can see them doing the upside down thumb thing so what's your point lol

[@274pacific]

The point is this "stormed out" comment was a wild exaggeration of what actually happened and a science channel should be better than that.

[@parker9911]

Let's be honest is it really a science channel?

[@charlest1121]

It's not

[@VergeScience]

Hey - that little snippet was the best moment we were able to capture on camera, but our reporters were there and can attest to the tone of both the lawyer and the audience! So that's the description of the moment we went with, even though you don't entirely get the vibe of the moment from the clip.

[@haresmahmood]

It goes to show how the decisions of older generations are definitely impacting the current generation. So the decisions we make will definitely affect future generations too (regarding climate change, for example)

[@Teeb2023]

Yeah, fairly typical selfish, short-sightedness.

[@rain1fy]

*Great Point.*

[@LiveYourLifeWithJoy]

Our generation it is a bit more aware. Not enough I'd say

[@mybackhurts7020]

And freedom

[@blahbleh5671]

Wow we got ourselves a real sherlock holmes here

[@miadimaio]

production and content quality is, as always, amazing. _constantly_ rewatching these videos

[@matthiasBdot]

why don't you go with a geiger-counter on site and give us some measurements?

[@xWood4000]

Because a Geiger counter is only one way to measure ionizing radiation. It is in some instances too inaccurate (don't ask me specifically which, I'm not a physicist).

[@devrim-oguz]

Ionizing radiation is what's dangerous. Non-ionizing radiation is everywhere, even light is a non-ionizing radiation. The problem with the Geiger counters are there are different type of counters and those different types measure different things. But alpha particles in every case can be stopped by a few centimeters of air or a thin sheet of paper. They could have done measurements with the Geiger counter anyways. It at least tells a little about the radioactivity there.

[@tomfeng5645]

Not just that; since we have direct exposure here, so the particular elements involved are of great importance when determining toxicity. Elements absorbed, or especially those concentrated, by the body are of much higher risk than a simple radiation test may seem to indicate. In any case, the fact they didn't do radiation tests speaks to their journalistic integrity. They're not experts on the issue, and what if they make a mistake and mislead us, their viewers? If someone else did such a test as part of a report, then checking might make sense. But otherwise, doing so would be at best a misrepresentation of the situation.

[@moth.monster]

Because they don't want to die from radiation poisoning?

[@mrmkl9839]

That would be immensly interesting, but unfortunately most people won't get any information from the numbers. Or if they measured radiation, and in some area they would read 0.5 uSv/h then people are going to freak out: "OMG that's 5 times the background radiation, I'm gonna die". But 0.5 is almost nothing

[@Abhi-cb7eh]

This is getting better than vox.I appreciate that.

[@2312uri]

They're part of Vox Media

[@georgythomas8451]

I hope they retain this quality. VICE used to be great in the beginning, the bulls**t they upload now is unbearable and are totally useless providing no usefull knowledge.

[@TehMasterSword]

Agreed. VICE is nothing but drug news and meaningless pop culture garbage. We need more reporting like THIS!

[@amirtahir7306]

Vice= Buzzfeed 2

[@earthn1447]

I was in the navy. In the 70's (and before) in was routine during tests to toss radioactive components of missiles over board - no telling where or to what extent this has occurred.

[@AnanyaGupta]

Very high quality story! You guys have come a long way and I am glad this generation is still concerned about what is important to the people - even when they are marginalized.

[@masonkiefer1222]

Ananya Gupta Except it’s complete bullshit and the radiation is so low it poses no risk to the community

[@VergeScience]

Hey Darude, it's true that the risk of falling ill from radiation exposure is likely low, and we say as much in the video. The more immediate issue, then, is that the experts hired to clean up the contamination (more than just the radioactive waste!) stand accused of falsifying their work. And *that* destroys the confidence of the community, of the developers, of the city, and of the military that this important cleanup work is being done safely and professionally. That fraud is doing lasting damage, regardless of the technical risk of exposure.

[@studiohoops]

These science videos are bloody great!

[@thebadhippie]

There needs to be more spotlight on this! Happy you guys did a doc on it

[@johnwalker4570]

me to, black victims being all victimized, its not right.

[@theintrovertedowl]

You should keep this video quality till the end! Your content and your quality is the reason I subscribed!😍😍😘

[@johnwalker4570]

you worried about all those black victims to I see, man, will black people ever catch a break? will a rich black person ever exist? can black people stop being treated so poorly all the time now?

[@TubeAngel]

awesome footage i wish theyd do new tests today and film it in 4k

[@user-xx1qc9uz5i]

Great story, though it's useless interviewing someone of unpopular/opposing opinion if you bleep out everything he says. Even if Singer had been talking in circles (which I'm sure he was), it proves more to show that footage than to just make viewers take your word on it. Could you post his unedited interview with Verge Science?

[@VergeScience]

Fair point! In this case, it wasn't so much that he was giving an opposing opinion...it was more that he was deliberately speaking in such a roundabout and vague way that it was difficult to even follow what he was saying. If he'd ever concisely stated his position or the company's, we would have included that for sure. So the best we could do was explain briefly that we talked to him but didn't learn much. Sometimes that's the best you get out of an interview!

[@bengriffin4027]

@@VergeScience so, could you post the unedited interview?

[@HahtaanDaetori]

Omg, SPONGEBOB, NOOOO

[@Bob-sf9ht]

lol

[@how2clickbait285]

I don’t know what that means, but that’s the type of stupid comment I like seeing on serious science videos. Good job, man!

[@blahbleh5671]

how immature, not even funny

[@heyya7464]

😑

[@somethinsomethin7243]

Spongbob lived in bikini bottom.

[@MapleMilk]

Thanks for making this video. This information is important but it never is easy to find.

[@jasonm5797]

Awsome video guys keep them coming....

[@necrohars3427]

I absolutely love all the effort you guys put into videos. They are of amazing quality!

[@mikeoxlong7982]

So well put together. First time viewer, lifetime subscriber!

[@ShivamMishra-vi6dt]

Thanks for this video.

[@aksk8629]

This was really informative, interesting and eye opening

[@aqspunk9994]

Amazing video, loved it keep up the good work Love to see this type of educating, inspiring and lovely videos just like this

[@VILK1N]

Thanks for the content and english subtitles! Its so helpful

[@TVPlanes]

This channel is so cool ! 👍

[@TheGlob420]

the verge is like what vice used be i like i love it

[@supermammal17]

Amazing video production.. Need more channels like this on KZbin

[@jamesoloughlin]

hmmm, maybe there is something wrong with the socital system that breeds so much ecological distruction, curruption and mistrust? What is the root cause of all these problems?

[@LiveYourLifeWithJoy]

Money?

[@Shipwreckforsail]

Capitalism.

[@LiveYourLifeWithJoy]

Well... No need to make a list

[@ok0_0]

Yeah like that time the communists did the same thing but worse

[@SineEyed]

Let's dial that world-clock back to the 1940's. _BAM_ ... done. Now go find me one single society on the planet that was forward-thinking and ecologically minded enough that we'd all find them respectable by today's standards. I can control time with the world-clock so don't worry about how long it takes - go ahead, I'll wait..

[@M3gekje]

Love you verge!

[@bloodydamnhell]

In this day and age, you can't be misleading like that (around 5:45). I'm sure the narration is accurate, but the documents seen on screen that are implied to support the narration do not. The Navy and EPA numbers, as presented on screen, were not comparable since they refer to different sets of samples. The Navy report refers only to sampled trenches, while the EPA figure you cite refers to all of Parcel G. Further examination shows that the story as a whole communicates a reasonably accurate overview of the situation. Unfortunately, in the hands of a propagandist these kinds of stupid little discrepancies are more than large enough to use as the seeds of doubt and discredit your journalism in the eyes of a lot of people.

[@Hemomancer]

Why do you think they would misrepresent things to overblow things? Excellent counterpoint, by the way!

[@bloodydamnhell]

@@Hemomancer I don't think anybody is intentionally misrepresenting anything, I think the video and narration didn't precisely match due to a difference in what, exactly, was being communicated in the documents vs. the narration. (For example, the pages shown may only apply to one part of a greater whole they were talking about) It's not wrong, it's just a bit sloppy.

[@Hemomancer]

@@bloodydamnhell I appreciate your clarification and noticing in the first place! Thank you! :-)

[@masonkiefer1222]

Hemomancer To make people afraid of nuclear power and nuclear weapons? To push their agenda? Because they are misrepresenting things to overblow the situation. The only reason they don’t take a Geiger counter there and test things for themselves is they won’t find anything dangerous. The health issues of the community are attributed to the radiation the workers were exposed to creating mutations and conditions which then were passed down.

[@VergeScience]

Hey, very fair point. The Navy and EPA reports aren't exactly apples-to-apples, it's true. The overall point is that the Navy did some initial testing, and found reason for concern and suspicion. The EPA did a different review, but came to a similar conclusion: there was cause for suspicion and retesting (The EPA's conclusions were more expansive and concerning). So the purpose of that section was to show that evidence was mounting that that Tetra Tech's results shouldn't be trusted. But, the differences you point out between the two studies are real, and it's the type of detail we often weigh when deciding how best to cleanly summarize parts of a complicated story. Thanks for writing in, we really appreciate our audience watching with a critical eye.

[@chulumancosifuba4889]

This was so interesting and informative.

[@Leo_Mauro]

Nice video Verge. You there in Verge have ever heard about the Samarco dam collapse in Brazil? It´s awful.

[@tomasqprochazka]

Great job guys!

[@rafico1me]

Thanks Chris

[@mizutoryu242]

Thanks Chris for being a true journalist in this age.

[@michaelkaybecker]

Has anyone noticed that all these online reporting channels, like this one or the vice, feel the exact same. Like they all follow the exact same template and change the topic. Every time I watch one of these videos I feel like I’ve seen it before even if I haven’t.

[@mybackhurts7020]

My great uncle was one of those guys at the failed Diablo test and he was at the next test after that is still happy healthy and driving his RV around the country right now

[@JoviaI1]

"We don't have to be engineers or scientists, because one thing I can tell you for a fact is that we *know* what ails us"...... Yeah... you lost me there.

[@corypalmer5495]

shut your tail up

[@johnwalker4570]

yeah, that seems to be a huge problem, because this sounds like a white person, and nothing ails white people. that part lost me as well.

[@verizon9791]

Again an amazing video Verge Science! Very interesting topic and a very professional production! Keep on the great work, we love it! Greetings from the Netherlands!

[@silassamse672]

Cool video, did you make ground samples, to see the level of radiation?

[@pastorcoreyadams]

Reminds me of the Love Canal scandal/disaster in Niagara Falls, NY.

[@myothersoul1953]

Verge Science, The _scientist_ you interviewed said the amount of radioactivity is low, so if you go with the _science_ ... this piece never mentioned how low or high the radiation levels are at Hunter's Point. No numbers, not really much about science at all. Scandal isn't the same as science. So what about the science? Is living there like having a dental X-ray every second? Or an extra one every year? Or is it more like living in Denver?

[@JR-vg2mk]

I love your videos more than my science class

[@wowjack8944]

Can you release sam singers full statement i would like to hear what he had to say.

[@johnwalker4570]

do you really want to hear it? he probably didn't say that black people are only victims, which as we all know is what needed to be said.

[@peteraustin9715]

Very interesting, thank you. 8-)

[@MaziarYousefi]

"This is the Bikini" Oh that explains a lot about how Sponge Bob characters can talk.

[@maxbarno]

Amazing that there actually is real journalism left in the world :)

[@candlestyx8517]

When you bring race into a subject about the effects of nuclear testing people will question your validity

[@danieljohnson2046]

Clicks on a video about nukes / Gets lectured about racism

[@DidntKnowWhatToPut1]

You can buy a gamma spectrometer off eBay for like $600. You can take soil samples and test them yourself.

[@FILNAT2011]

Scary stuff

[@charlescunningham1872]

**Sweats profusely**

[@NeverTalkToCops1]

So, what are the actual numbers regarding concentration of radiation?

[@DingoAteMeBaby]

whats scarier, is if the city itself was the person who wanted it covered up.

[@DennisCambly]

There is a 1700 page report produced by the DOD in the late 1980s showing the extend of radioactive fallout. It extends from California up through the Midwest of the US with the trail sort of ending north of the Great Lakes.

[@SuperJohn12354]

Imagine the person that did the sand blasting, I bet you they died a painful death

[@Danielevans2]

BIKINI BOTTOM? YOU'RE SAYING SPONGEBOB IS REAL???

[@Ale-uh2ry]

Yeah the one who wrote SpongeBob named it after this

[@Neojhun]

Bikini Atoll. So the surface.

[@charleskuhn382]

This reminded me of Cloud Atlas

[@herculean616]

I'm curious about who narrated this video, who did it?

[@Airstrip1000M]

Verge: You've probably seen this footage Me: Definitely Spongebob

[@awesomearts9263]

where do you get your music?

[@awesomearts9263]

or what is the music that you use?

[@oogerballs5417]

Looking at one of the documents linked in the article, there is a demolished building site in parcel A (The location in which the San Fransico shipyard homes are) numbered 322 that is documented as likely contaminated with low surface soil and sediment contamination. It is pretty interesting that those new homes are potentially being built where the surface soil was once contaminated

[@Rakaan1994]

Why am i so invested in this? i am literally on the opposite side of the world

[@controlequebrado4455]

this is one of the only things in spongebob that makes some sense

[@controlequebrado4455]

if you didn't get it it's about the nuclear bomb detonated on the bikini atoll

[@johnwalker4570]

don't forget to add the part these tests stopped more world wars from happening.

[@typical3477]

Get this film to Rice Marshall Smith immediately

[@jvcolddayinhell2761]

Why do they have to worry about a wastewater treatment plant?

[@kali2593]

Question, does the EPA lowering the standard for nuclear radiation exposure? Have anything to do with this?

[@Wisemaster96]

No

[@masonkiefer1222]

Jaison Abraham why did you make that one question two questions that don’t make sense?

[@jamesmatskogv3138]

Rumor has it that Tetra Tech is actually DataDyne

[@usleman]

You should print on both sides!

[@sergeyslyusar327]

at 3:14 they say US officials that ships were so badly contaminated that they called them "Radioactive Stoves" and somehow they forget to mention that US military sent thousands of its own soldiers on to those ships to examine the wreckage without any protection shortly after testing.

[@davidfrison2765]

We have a place in cape Breton where the steel industry polluted a near by water source... They called it the tarponds... The clean up took 10 years.. People had arsenic seeping into the cracks of their foundations... They would see people in full radiation garments and space suits taking samples and posting hazard signs... While keeping a lid on the health hazard... Everyone who lived on the street in front of it.. Died of cancer fast... The entire street is no longer there.. I had a friend who died a month ago at age 30...he was walking near the area and slipped and fell in and ended up with weird infections in his leg from the water getting into the cut... And scrapes on his leg... He was walking with a cane the last time I seen him... But took a turn for the worst.. It was very suspicious and you don't hear anything about it.. I heard it was heart failure.. But I know he was taking antibiotics and was hospitalized quite a bit after it happened.. That's the thing about cape Breton.. Are whether is so unpredictable and just because you have it encased in cement and mixed with a dirt and removed most of it.. Your still going to get cracks in the cement or parts of the cement that doesn't settle properly ..he was going to file a lawsuit because there were no signs posted near by about the hole in the ground and I guess the rain water became contaminated with whatever is in the ground or being sprayed into the sky... Most rain water evaporates or soaks into the ground.. But if you get an area like that.. And you get that into a cut... I think should have sounded the alarm that something is a miss with that tarponds site

[@Reda01Reda]

Nothing new from America

[@Linx-82]

Humanity*

[@LiveYourLifeWithJoy]

@@Linx-82 living in USA*

[@gabbar51ngh]

Please no country used nukes but America.

[@Glogof]

@@gabbar51ngh china and the Soviets

[@gabbar51ngh]

@@Glogofwhen did they attack anyone with nukes? Only America did.

[@thefarklenator4518]

I watch these driving to work

[@adastra591]

And thats how Godzilla was born

[@jamesmatskogv3138]

Tetra Tech has shifted the blame to a Protoss Super Carrier

[@erikvanderspuy8710]

you guys are better at this than building pc's

[@Janetdavenporttdk10]

I just had an odd thought - they still haven't cleaned up the old navy repair zone here in Portland, OR , even though it was designated for the "Super Funds" to clean it over 20 years ago. What if there is barrels of waste down there and one day it just explodes?

[@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc]

7:31 - But Rachel, surely you can summon your Valkyrie warrior sisters and go trounce Tetra Tech and force them to clean up the radiation...?

[@melanieortiz712]

Just because you can. Doesn't mean you should. Something scientist haven't stopped to think about.

[@ybs9003]

that neiborhood looks cool

[@BackOutside]

1:50 when u live that stoner hippie life and gotta dressup for a court date that u got to high and forgot about

[@TinLeadHammer]

Why did not NAVY clean the mess? Why paying a private company to fix what government did?

[@Einlogmusik]

Mabe it's cheaper

[@christinsley2530]

Because the Navy are not equipped to perform said works. Hence they are outsourced

[@vipulpetkar]

amazing

[@DougGrinbergs]

Is it just coincidence that Lennar built at San Francisco Shipyard, former Superfund Site, and Candelas at Rocky Flats former nuclear weapons plant?

[@charlesjost1473]

When North Korea says it has nukes

[@matthewhansen9423]

It's one thing with nuclear explosions, they are pretty intimidating. Maybe because I'm slightly claustrophobic, so the thought of something that extraordinarily massive in the sky would just be pretty damn overwhelming. It's just absolute awesome respect for the power of the nuclear fission and fusion. Too much power to have in man's hands.

[@Einlogmusik]

Beautiful

[@RinoSan]

I'm apt to believe anything posted by the Verge.

[@JohnJohansen2]

Didn't anyone had a walk on the site with a giger counter?

[@superave1000]

Why don’t we take the toxic waste and move it somewhere else Spongebob pun intended

[@edouarddubois9402]

You probably have more risk of getting sick from the empty bottles of chemicals and old cans of paint sitting in your average alley-way. Not saying that the company was in the right for lying like that. But having everyone freak out that the neighborhood is somehow unsafe because they are within sight of an old decontamination site is really an over-reaction.

[@StBatu]

Are you guys working on any feel good science stories?

[@derekwall200]

dude it's very simple, if you want to see for yourself if the area and soil is radioactive, just take a geiger counter and walk through the suspected area of contamination and take some readings. then you'll see for yourself

[@FrankCastle-he8fl]

They woke up Godzilla

[@fabiosunspot1112]

In simple terms you really could never clean up radioactive soil or can you?

[@zachb.4429]

Wow. And Godzilla didn't even die.

[@jimsvideos7201]

If the narrator for some of the tests sounds like the gardener from Star Trek, it's because Ray Walston did both. He would have had remarkable security clearance to read scripts containing nuclear weapons data.