The US government has announced US$1.6 million in funding to investigate the water surrounding a radioactive dome in the Marshall Islands.
The Runit Dome on Enewetak Atoll was built to contain nuclear waste after US nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific in the 1940s and '50s.
However, Marshall Islands officials say the lagoon water is already more contaminated than the dome itself, which has been leaking.
The money announced last week will fund a radiochemical analysis of the water surrounding the crater, and an engineering survey of the structure.