Editing Project Chariot (section)

==Contamination==
Although the detonation never occurred, the site was radioactively contaminated by an experiment to estimate the effect on water sources of radioactive ejecta, which, landing on tundra plants, might or might not be washed down and carried away by rains. Material from a 1962 nuclear explosion, and other laboratory-produced [[Radionuclide|radionuclides]], were transported to the Chariot site in August 1962, used in several experiments, then heaped into a pile and covered with dirt (the permafrost preventing burial). The site comprised a mound of about {{convert|400|sqft|m2}}, about {{convert|4|ft|cm}} tall. Thirty years later, the disposal was discovered in archival documents by University of Alaska researcher [[Dan O'Neill (writer)|Dan O'Neill]]. State officials immediately traveled to the site and found low levels of radioactivity at a depth of two feet (60 cm) in the burial mound. Outraged residents of the Inupiat village of Point Hope, who had experienced an unusually high rate of cancer deaths, demanded the removal of the contaminated soil, which the government did at its expense in 1993.<ref name=ONeill3 /><ref name="doe chariot">{{cite web |title=Chariot, Alaska, Site A Plowshare/Vela Uniform Program Site |url=https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/ChariotFactSheet.pdf |website=energy.gov |publisher=United States Department of Energy |date=July 2022}}</ref>

Small-diameter boreholes drilled to measure soil characteristics were remediated in 2014. The five boreholes, drilled in the early 1960s, had used refrigerated diesel fuel as a drilling fluid, contaminating the surrounding area.<ref name="doe chariot"/>