[CPEO-MEF] U-Boat in North Seat a "time bomb"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[This story is important not only because of the direct threat of 
mercury releases in the North Sea, but because it appears to suggest 
that ocean-dumped wastes, such as containerized chemical agent on 
deliberately scuttled ships, may also remain as toxic threats. - LS]

Toxic timebomb surfaces 60 years after U-boat lost duel to the death
The long route of the U864

Martin Fletcher in Horten, Norway
Times of London (UK)
December 19, 2006

Sixty-one years ago a U-boat slipped out of the Baltic port of Kiel, 
sent by Hitler on a secret voyage to Japan in a mission to avert 
Germany’s looming defeat.

U864 never reached her destination. She was sunk by the British in the 
only known case of one submarine destroying another while both were 
submerged. It is a remarkable tale of wartime derring-do — but one with 
a sting in the tail.

The wreck now lies, in two pieces, 152 metres (500ft) beneath North Sea 
waters off the Norwegian coast, and contains 65 tonnes of mercury in 
1,857 corroding canisters. It is a toxic timebomb, and today the 
Norwegian Government will announce plans to entomb it in a sarcophagus 
12 metres thick.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2511387,00.html

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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