Cactus Dome: The Nuclear Tomb in Paradise

You were a whole island once. You were breadfruit trees heavy with green globes of fruit, whispering promises of massive canoes.

Then you became testing ground. Nine nuclear weapons consumed you, one by one, engulfed in an inferno of blazing heat. You became crater. You became tomb. You became concrete shell. You became solidified history.

These are some lines from the poem ‘Anointed’, written by poet Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, hailing from the Marshall Islands, an archipelago of heavenly atolls located roughly halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

In February 2017, Jetnil-Kijiner read aloud her poem, while standing on the ‘concrete shell’, the very ‘tomb’ she described.

Unlike most tombs, this structure does not commemorate the dead. It is more of a barrier, holding back a curse: the curse of a poisonous history, which threatens to return to haunt this slice of paradise, as the sea waters rise and the slabs of concrete slowly, but surely, start to crack.

This is the curse of the Cactus Dome.

The Tomb

The name ‘Marshall Islands’ may not be immediately recognisable, unless you are a geography buff, but the toponym ‘Bikini atoll’ should evoke images of unbridled testing of nuclear weapons at the start of the Cold War. These tests, and their fictionalised consequences, became the inspiration for the classic ‘Godzilla’ franchise.

West of Bikini, lies a string of 40 islands, once contoured by white sandy beaches and covered in coconut trees: the Enewetak atoll. One of these tiny islands, Runit, is sadly home to today’s destination: the Cactus Dome, also known as the ‘Runit Dome’ or the ‘Cactus Crater Containment Structure’.

From the outside, the Dome looks like a circular, convex concrete cap, roughly 126 yards in diameter. It is composed of 357 trapezoidal slabs, converging towards a top section some 18 inches thick.

What lies beneath the Dome is far more impressive.

The concrete slabs were laid down to contain a total of 111,000 cubic yards of radioactively contaminated soil and debris, laced with potentially lethal amounts of plutonium, caesium and strontium isotopes.

This pile of nuclear waste was collected and dumped into a crater by the US military, in an effort to clean up the Enewetak atoll, contaminated by the dozens of nuclear weapons tested on the Marshall Islands.

This tomb, however, is far from sealed. The unforgiving passage of time, the onslaught of the elements, and overall neglect, have caused the slabs to crack and spall. Due to rising sea levels, the waters of the Pacific Ocean have seeped into the Dome. And contaminated water is flowing back out again, threatening the rich marine wildlife, as well as the health and livelihood of the local populations.

But to fully understand how the Runit Dome came into being, and its current implications, we have to trace the history of Enewetak and weapons testing in the Marshall Islands.

Raining Hell

The Marshall Islands stretch over a vast expanse of ocean, measuring 750,000 square miles — that’s almost five Californias! The islets and atolls are all that remains of ancient volcanoes that once rose from these waters.

The islands were first settled some 3,000 years ago by sea-faring populations, travelling from Asia and Polynesia. They lived largely undisturbed for centuries, until Imperial Germany first colonised the Marshalls in the 1880s.

Following WWI, Imperial Japan took control. And after some decades of peace, the Marshalls switched hands again. With the outset of WWII in the Pacific, American forces evicted the Japanese from the islands, seizing Enewetak on February 23, 1944. Due to the tranquil waters of its lagoon, this atoll became an important base for the US Pacific Fleet.

And after the end of the war, the US control over the Marshalls was formalised with a Trusteeship, awarded by the United Nations in July 1947. Thus, the Marshall Islands and other Pacific archipelagos wrested from the Japanese became collectively known as the TTPI — or Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

The TTPI was administered by the military, who saw the Marshalls in particular as the perfect testing ground for nuclear bombs of increasingly destructive power. The Cold War was already on, and the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union had kicked off!

It is interesting to note, however, that the first two nuclear detonations on Bikini Atoll were conducted in the summer of 1946, prior to the TTPI being established!

All in all, between 1946 and 1958, the US military pounded the Marshall Islands with a total of 67 nuclear devices, 35 of which were detonated in 1958 only.

The Enewetak atoll bore the brunt of this radioactive slaughter. In late 1947, the newly constituted Atomic Energy Commission, or AEC, had designated Enewetak as a favoured test site. Thus, between 1948 and 1958, the AEC conducted six series of tests on the atoll, detonating 43 nuclear and thermonuclear bombs.

Notably, on October 31, 1952 the tiny island of Elugelab was obliterated by Ivy Mike, the very first thermonuclear device, boasting a 10.4 megaton yield. The explosion scattered tons of contaminated materials all over Enewetak and the surrounding waters, leaving behind a crater 1.24 miles wide and almost 500 feet deep.

The last series of tests, known as ‘Hardtack’, conducted in 1958, left the atoll almost entirely uninhabitable.

The ‘Hardtack’ experiment involved the testing of nine devices. One of them, ‘Cactus’, exploded in May, leaving behind a crater which was later topped by the infamous Dome.

Other weapons were ironically nicknamed with more innocent sounding monikers such as Butternut, Holly, Magnolia and Quince. The latter, tested in August, failed to explode completely, spraying plutonium fuel across Runit island.

The Department of Defense and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory dispatched an infantry unit to clean up the surface of Runit. Well, ‘clean up’ is probably an overstatement, as they simply shoved the contaminated soil into the Enewetak lagoon. They then excavated a trench, 30 feet wide and 8 feet deep, and filled it with 130 tons’ worth of radioactive dirt, transported all the way from a Nevada test site!

The following bomb, ‘Fig’, was dropped exactly over the poisonous trench, thus spreading yet more radioactive material over the area.

The local inhabitants had been relocated to other islands in the Marshalls prior to the tests, of course. But they were not immediately repatriated after the nuclear tests were stopped for good.

This happened in August of 1963, following the signature of the Partial Test Ban Treaty between the US, UK and the Soviet Union. The Test Ban Treaty, however, only applied to nuclear ordnance, which did not prevent the US Department of Defence from experimenting with other types of weapons.

In 1968, the new testing phase began, this time with a biological arsenal: bombs, missiles and spraying devices littered Enewetak, mostly Lojwa Island, with clouds of weaponised staphylococcal enterotoxin B, a biological agent which causes toxic shock and food poisoning.

According to declassified military files, a single one of those biological bombs could cover an area of 926 square miles — that’s Los Angeles times two! — causing a 30% casualty rate.

The Big Clean Up

By 1972, the US military decided to put an end to their testing in the region, and in April invited the former inhabitants of Enewetak to resettle in the atoll.

According to a Department of Energy report, the Enewetak leaders “were deeply gratified to be able to visit their ancestral homeland, but they were mortified by what they saw.”

Their once verdant and paradisiacal islands were now completely barren, a post-apocalyptic landscape where empty desolation was interrupted only by lonely, sickly palm trees and crumbling military facilities.

Clearly, the local people, the dri-Enewetak, could not resume their way of life, unless the islands were cleaned up.

In mid-1975, the Energy Research and Development Agency, or ERDA, estimated that a sum of $40 million would be needed to return the atoll to living conditions. The US Congress approved a budget of only $20 million, which was topped up by $12 million provided by the Department of the Interior, or DOI.

The ERDA had planned to hire specialised contractors for the clean up operations, but the budget cuts meant that US servicemen would be used instead, as virtually free labour.

In March of 1977, the Department of Energy, DOE, conducted a joint survey with the Defense Nuclear Agency, or DNA, which determined that only the top soil levels of the Enewetak islands were contaminated.

The only exception was Runit. This island had endured 17 nuclear detonations, and was too heavily poisoned by radiation.

A plan was soon put together: the US military would scrape up the top layers of soil from the affected islands in Enewetak, and then move it to Runit. Then, the dirt would be dumped into the crater left by the Cactus bomb.

The contaminated soil was to be mixed with concrete, to ensure that it was not spread by the winds. Finally, the radioactive slurry would be covered by a concrete structure: the Cactus, or Runit, Dome. Naturally, Runit island would remain off limits indefinitely.

The cleanup of Enewetak started in May 1977, and would be completed in April 1980. Eventually, the workforce employed included a small number of contractors and civil servants, but the bulk of the labour came from US servicemen, for a total of 4,000 people.

This force dumped into the Cactus crater 6,000 cubic yards of contaminated debris, as well as 105,000 cubic yards of radioactive soil. The crater was then capped with the 18-inch Dome, assembled from 357 slabs of concrete.

Before the Dome could be completed, though, the work crews discovered new piles of highly radioactive debris. This waste material was embedded into some of the slabs, which apparently did not cause concern for the officials involved. The Departments involved had conceived the Dome as a structure to contain the soil and debris, and not as a fully functional anti-radiation shield!

Once the Cactus Dome was indeed finally completed, crews found yet again more radioactive material, washed ashore by the tides. The servicemen involved had to construct two small antechambers to accommodate for the extra waste.

As the clean up progressed, a parallel program was put in place to make the atoll inhabitable by the returning dri-Enewetak.

A total of 37,000 coconut, breadfruit and other edible trees were planted across ten islands. The DOI also took care of building 116 new homes over the three largest islands. 39 out of 40 islands in the atoll were requalified for agriculture and food gathering.

The 40th island was Runit. It was deemed cleared of high levels of fissile materials, but the DOI took the wise decision not to resettle it.

Overall, the total cost of the cleanup and resettlement project has been estimated at $104 million.

Like Mushrooms

The overall program may sound like an honest effort on behalf of the ERDA, the DOI, DOE and the military to return to the dri-Enewetak their slice of paradise, but the overall picture was, and is, far from idyllic.

As mentioned earlier, the Departments involved were fully aware that the Runit Dome would not be effective in keeping radiation at bay. Moreover, they failed to inform the dri-Enewetak, withholding from them also information about the biological weapons experiments.

The military personnel involved did not receive better treatment. They were neither properly trained nor adequately protected against radiation poisoning. Six servicemen died during the cleanup operation, hundreds more developed radiation-induced cancers.

It appears that some of them didn’t even know they were working in a contaminated environment. Bob Reitmer, for example, served with the 84th Engineer Battalion, and worked at the Cactus Dome for a total of six months, in 1977 and 1978. He only found out about the dangers related to that operation in 2019!

As he declared to the Los Angeles Times: “There were no masks, or respirators, or bug suits, for that matter. My uniform was a pair of combat boots, shorts and a hat. That was it. No shirt. No glasses.”

Fittingly, he concluded that he and other fellow soldiers had been treated “like mushrooms: They feed us crap and keep us in the dark.”

In 1986, the US Government and the Government of the Marshall Islands signed an agreement, known as ‘Compact of Free Association’, to formalise their relationship, with specific clauses about the aftermath of the nuclear experiments.

As per the Compact, the two countries established a special international court in 1988. This was the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, designed to assess health and damage claims filed by the Marshallese. This court ruled that the US should have paid $2.3 billion in claims to the islanders. The US Congress, however, rejected this ruling.

A 2003 amendment to the Compact includes a clause granting $48,750,000 in reparations to the people of Enewetak.

However, according to a Los Angeles Times article published in 2019, the US Government has paid only $4 million to the residents of the atoll.

US Ambassador to the Marshall Islands, Karen Stewart, denied the need to pay further claims, as, according to her, the US had already invested more than $600 million in clean up and resettlement projects throughout the 1970s and 1980s — a figure which, according to Stewart, would equate to $1 billion adjusted for inflation.

However, official figures from the DoE place the clean up and resettlement bill at $104 million in 1980 value, which is about $386 million in 2023 money.

Nonetheless, between the signing of the Compact in 1986 and 2019, American institutions did invest time, effort and money in surveying the conditions of the Cactus Dome and the surrounding area, assessing the need for further decontamination interventions.

Under Inspection

At the end of June 2008, the Office of Health and Safety of the DOE contracted National Security Technologies, NST, to perform an inspection of the outer surface of the Cactus Dome.

NST surveyed all 357 concrete panels, reporting no defects in 138 of them. But the remaining 219 did present signs of potentially concerning damage.

On many of these panels, it seems like vegetation was slowly conquering concrete, taking root in the joints between slabs and growing over the surface. Either as a consequence of plants taking root, or as a result of other atmospheric factors, many slabs appeared to be cracked, broken or chipped.

The most frequently reported concern, however, was spalling, prevalent across the entire dome, and especially significant along the joint edges.

The dri-Enewetak community naturally grew concerned about the structural integrity of the Cactus Dome. What would be the impact on the environment and their own health should the radioactive debris escape through the cracks?

In response to these concerns, in 2012 the US Congress passed the Insular Areas Act of 2011, which required the Secretary of Energy to conduct periodical inspections on Runit island. These inspections should have included both a survey of the concrete cover and a radiochemical analysis of the groundwater surrounding and inside the Dome.

The following year, a study of the Cactus Dome was conducted by Terry Hamilton, Scientific Director at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. This inspection, similar to the one completed in 2008, reviewed the status of each individual concrete slab, reporting the usual issues of widespread cracking and spalling. However, Hamilton’s study concluded that “the cracks and spalling of concrete were not considered structural in nature or likely to present any additional hazard associated with the spread of radioactive contamination into the environment.”

The 2012 survey of the Dome was followed by groundwater sampling in 2015. This was performed by Ken Buesseler, expert in marine radioactivity at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Buesseler found that “there was an exchange between the lagoon water and material under the Dome.” Which meant that the sea waters were filtering into the covered crater, and then seeped out again into the lagoon. Buesseler and his team, however, found that only low levels of radioactivity had been detected in the lagoon.

To clarify, Buesseler found that the solid sediments under the waters of the lagoon already contained plutonium — even before the clean up operations and the construction of the Dome.

This underwater plutonium is equivalent to only 0.1% of the plutonium released by the weapons tested in the 1940s and 1950s. And the plutonium buried under the Dome was estimated to be only 1% of this 0.1%!

All in all, the radiation levels detected by Buesseler’s 2015 study fell below contamination level for international standards on the quality of water.

In 2016, a team of Columbia University researchers took care of measuring radiation levels on land, across the islands of Enewetak. This study found these levels to be lower than those measured in New York’s Central Park! By the way, Central Park’s background radioactivity is due to the presence of granite rocks.

In the same year, Terry Hamilton of the Lawrence Livermore Lab returned to the Dome for another series of tests on the concrete slabs, which included compressive strength testing, petrographic exams and chemical analysis. Despite the ever increasing number of cracks, this survey concluded that “the exterior concrete remains well cemented, appears to be properly consolidated and cured, and has satisfactory strength and binding properties … [It] is not significantly compromised and is still serving its intended purpose of providing an effective barrier to reduce natural erosion of underlying waste-pile materials.”

In 2018 Hamilton made another trip to Runit, to oversee a visual inspection of the Dome, this time conducted via drone. His team identified 46 cracks and 36 spalls for immediate repair, which was carried out after the inspection. In his report on the event, Hamilton notes that these maintenance activities “were performed largely to address widespread public perception that cracks in the concrete form sites for potentially harmful quantities of radioactivity becoming available for human exposure.”

In other words, his opinion was that cracking on the Dome did not constitute an actual risk for additional contamination of Runit island. His reports however also note that two severely damaged concrete panels had left the underlying waste pile completely exposed. These panels “were repaired during an earlier field mission to Enewetak Atoll.”

The 2018 expedition was to be followed up by another trip in 2019, intended to carry out further repair work. This mission was cancelled due to outbreaks of measles and Dengue fever in the Marshall Islands, and further delayed in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.

During the inspection, Hamilton and team were also able to sample the groundwater aquifer underneath the Dome, test its radiological levels and assess the impact on the environment of the atoll. Their methodology focused in particular on testing levels of caesium and plutonium isotopes.

The presence of caesium did not worry Hamilton, who noted its “negligible impact on radiological conditions in the wider marine environment on Enewetak Atoll.”

On the other hand, the concentration of plutonium isotopes observed in the lagoon was significantly higher, compared to levels found in the open ocean.

Hamilton’s report thus confirmed that fallout contamination had been leaking from the Cactus crater into the groundwater aquifer underneath. And the aquifer had become a source for “potential migration of fallout radionuclides … into the marine environment.”

In other words: the waste and debris beneath the Dome had contaminated the layer of water under the crater, and the radiation had then spread into the lagoon.

A Bomb with Two Fuses

Hamilton’s conclusions were confirmed by the findings of a joint expedition, organised by the Los Angeles Times and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

The research team visited the Enewetak lagoon, finding radiation levels comparable to those found near Chernobyl and Fukushima. They also documented extensive environmental impact, such as coral bleaching, die-outs of fish and excessive proliferation of algae.

In May 2019, Terry Hamilton visited Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, to address an audience of local dignitaries and officials. The researcher confirmed once more that the Cactus Dome was too exposed to the tides, with water leaking in and then seeping out again, contaminating the lagoon.

In conclusion, the structure was “vulnerable to leakage and the sustained impacts of storm surge and sea level rise.”

That is a key point. The Dome is a very low structure, its highest point standing at an elevation of just 25 feet above sea level. The Departments in charge of Runit’s clean up had not considered the eventuality of progressive rise of sea levels — an undeniable fact which nullifies the Dome’s purpose of containing the radioactive debris!

At the Majuro meeting, however, Hamilton reassured his audience that there was no cause for alarm. His point was that the lagoon was already so contaminated that any additional radiation would be almost undetectable.

The researcher added that, in his view, Runit was safe for habitation. Hamilton contends that the plutonium-laced soil is harmful only when it is airborne, or when enters the body via a superficial wound.

After the summit, Hamilton reiterated his views to the Los Angeles Times: “Under existing living conditions, there is no radiological basis why I or anyone else should be concerned about living on Enewetak.”

Hamilton’s conclusions have left other scientists rather perplexed.

Holly M. Barker is an anthropologist at the University of Washington who has served on the Marshall Islands nuclear commission. In her view, Hamilton’s conclusions make little sense, as they negated the very reason why the Dome, or ‘Tomb’, was built in the first place. “The whole point of building the Tomb was to clean up contamination left behind by the U.S. testing programs.”

Another critic is Paul Griego, a radiochemist who in 1978 worked as contractor during the construction of the Dome: “I saw the water rising and falling as we filled that dome. I know that limestone is porous. And I know how sick people got. That dome is dangerous. And if it fails, it’s a problem.”

Understandably, the government of the Marshall Islands has grown concerned over the years about the worsening situation on Runit Islands. The situation can be described as a double time bomb, with two fuses ticking away towards catastrophe: on one hand, the Dome is slowly crumbling away; on the other, the waters are rising.

The President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, has repeatedly lobbied the White House for help, but Washington has declined, citing the fact that the Cactus Dome is on Marshallese land, and therefore it is not their responsibility.

In September 2019, President Heine vented her frustration: “How can the Dome be ours? We don’t want it. We didn’t build it. The garbage inside is not ours. It’s theirs.”

Heine’s views were supported by Prof Michael Gerrard, citing the fact that the US military was entirely responsible for the aftermath of the nuclear tests carried out in the Pacific.

Back in 2015, the already quoted marine radiochemist Ken Buesseler had not been concerned by radiation levels in the Enewetak lagoon. However, as of 2020, he agreed that the ‘ticking time bomb’ in Runit was of great concern. To him, the most dangerous of the ‘two fuses’ in the rise in sea levels.

“A lot depends on future sea-level rise and how things like storms and seasonal high tides affect the flow of water in and out of the dome. It’s a small source right now, but we need to monitor it more regularly to understand what’s happening, and get the data directly to the affected communities in the region.”

The risk posed by rising sea levels has been acknowledged also by a Department of Energy report, dated June 2020. One of its conclusions reads: “The most notable and immediate impact of rising sea levels on the Cactus Crater containment structure is that associated with the physical effects of storm surge and wave-driven flooding.”

As per the integrity of the Dome itself, the DoE concluded that it was not in “immediate danger of collapse or failure,” with the concrete slabs still fulfilling their job of protecting the contaminated soil from wind and water erosion.

The DoE further concludes that the radioactive material buried under the ‘Tomb’ is not having any measurable adverse effect on the surrounding habitat. Moreover, it is not “expected to have any adverse effect on the environment in 5, 10, or 20 years.”

The report also reassures about the impact of exposure to fallout radionuclides on humans. Radiation dose rates measured on the dri-Enewetak are “well below international standards for radiological protection of the public; i.e., 100 millirem per year.”

The DoE, however, admitted the need of starting a program to analyse radiochemical activity in the groundwater beneath the Dome, to determine with certainty future impact on the environment.

In Conclusion

To summarise the opinions of Hamilton, Buesseler and the DoE: yes, the Cactus Dome is potentially dangerous, but the radiation levels, due in particular to plutonium isotopes, are not a cause for concern at the moment.

In April 2022, Columbia University researchers Hart Rapaport and Ivana Nikolic Hughes disagreed with these views from the pages of Scientific American.

The authors of the article contend that the research conducted by the DoE and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory focused on caesium and plutonium, but did not report on the presence of strontium 90. This radioisotope is a cause of concern across the entire Marshall Islands, as it can cause leukaemia and bone cancer.

Their argument is that the US government is accountable for the damages left behind by nuclear testing, and that the Congress should provide funding to independent research and clean up efforts.

Speaking of funding, in June 2023 the US and the Marshall Islands renewed their Compact of Free Association. Section 107, Clause (b)(2) assigns a sum of $2.3 billion “to remain available until expended, to carry out the purposes of any future amendments to the 2003 Amended Compact.”

In other words, the US Government appears to have set aside a substantial fund which may be used to carry out further research at Runit island, to determine, for example, whether its environment is contaminated by dangerous levels of strontium isotopes.

The funds may be even used to repair those slowly eroding concrete slabs and thus keep at bay the spectre of a radioactive resurrection from beneath the Cactus Dome.

But will this be sufficient against the rise of the waters?

The Marshall Islands are particularly exposed to the danger of rising sea levels. Since 1993, they have increased by 0.3 inches year on year around the archipelago. By comparison, the global average is between 0.11 to 0.14 inches per year. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, levels could have increased as much as 5 feet by the end of the 21st Century, which could submerge most of the Marshalls.

We can only hope that a permanent solution is found on time, before the Cactus Dome ceases to be a radioactive tomb on a once heavenly island, to become instead a menacing time capsule lurking beneath the waves.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Cactus Dome?

The Cactus Dome, also known as the ‘Runit Dome’ or the ‘Cactus Crater Containment Structure,’ is a circular, convex concrete cap located on Runit Island in the Enewetak atoll of the Marshall Islands. It was built to contain 111,000 cubic yards of radioactively contaminated soil and debris from nuclear weapons testing.

Why was the Cactus Dome built?

The Cactus Dome was constructed to contain radioactive waste generated from nuclear weapons testing conducted by the US military in the Marshall Islands. The dome was intended to prevent the spread of radioactive materials into the environment.

What is the current condition of the Cactus Dome?

The Cactus Dome is showing signs of deterioration, including cracks and spalling in the concrete slabs. Rising sea levels and storm surges are causing water to seep into the dome, potentially spreading radioactive contamination into the surrounding lagoon.

What are the potential risks associated with the Cactus Dome?

The primary risks include the potential release of radioactive materials into the environment due to the dome’s deteriorating condition and the rising sea levels. This could contaminate the marine ecosystem and pose health risks to local populations.

What is the history of nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands?

Between 1946 and 1958, the US military conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, with 43 of those tests taking place on the Enewetak atoll. The testing contaminated the islands, leading to the construction of the Cactus Dome to contain the radioactive waste.

What is the Compact of Free Association?

The Compact of Free Association is an agreement signed in 1986 between the US Government and the Government of the Marshall Islands. It formalizes their relationship and includes clauses about the aftermath of nuclear testing, including reparations and cleanup efforts.

What are the concerns of the Marshallese government regarding the Cactus Dome?

The Marshallese government is concerned about the deteriorating condition of the Cactus Dome and the potential for radioactive contamination due to rising sea levels. They have lobbied the US for help but have faced resistance, as the US argues that the dome is on Marshallese land.

What is the current status of the Cactus Dome according to US reports?

According to reports from the US Department of Energy and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Cactus Dome is not in immediate danger of collapse. However, they acknowledge the need for ongoing monitoring and potential repair work due to the rising sea levels and structural issues.

What is the significance of the 2023 renewal of the Compact of Free Association?

The 2023 renewal of the Compact of Free Association includes a substantial fund of $2.3 billion that could be used for further research and cleanup efforts at Runit Island, including addressing the issues with the Cactus Dome.

Sources

• Original Places video: Cactus Dome: The Nuclear Tomb in Paradise
• Hero image source by 總統府 / openverse, by.