Trump has a radioactive time bomb under Greenland’s ice

By Seb Starcevic | 01/21/2025 12:24 PM EST

The U.S. would inherit an environmental dilemma of its own making if it lays claim to the massive Arctic island.

An area with ice caps near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, is seen from the air.

An area near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, is seen from the air on May 20, 2021. Pool photo by Saul Loeb

Deep in Greenland’s frozen wilderness, a radioactive secret sleeps beneath the ice — and it could be a headache for Donald Trump if the U.S. president follows through on his threat to take control of the vast Arctic island.

Its name is Camp Century, an American military base built in 1959 during the Cold War in an attempt to develop nuclear launch sites that could survive a Russian strike.

The project, which involved carving a network of tunnels through Greenland’s ice sheet and was powered by a small nuclear reactor, was deemed unfeasible due to the constantly shifting ice and abandoned in 1967.

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Although the Americans dismantled the reactor and took its nuclear reaction chamber with them when they departed in ’67, they left behind thousands of metric tons of waste and debris — including radioactive residue — to be buried under the icecap forever.

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