Scientists say they have no idea how far, or if, the plutonium traveled from the submarine, which ended up 18,000 feet down. The submarine was one of three Soviet, and two U.S., nuclear-armed subs to sink during the Cold War. Because of the depth, experts said the plutonium might tend to stay put because of slow water circulation and sticky seafloor mud. But some might have been absorbed by food chain creatures in the upper layers of the ocean as the sub sank. If so, those particles of plutonium may still be in some fish.
Plutonium is lethal in extremely small quantities and remains radioactive for thousands of years.
They also could assess whether the spill should be cleaned up. U.S. scientists include Charles Hollister and Hugh Livingston, at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. The Russians have privately asked researchers at the University of California-run Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos nuclear weapons labs to join the project. We just need to get a handshake and some support for a joint Russian-American expedition. Hollister said the expedition could help test his theory that nuclear waste could safely be buried under the ocean floor.