ATALANTE

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Researchers found more than 1000 barrels nuclear waste in Atlantic

Scientists working aboard the 'Atlante' have located the first of what are believed to be hundreds of thousands of barrels with nuclear waste on the seabed. Little is known about their condition. They have already discovered more than 1000 barrels in the Northeast Atlantic. The research team of the French research organization CNRS. set off from Brest on June 16, 2025., to a search area in the Western European Basin of the Atlantic. They plan to spend four weeks searching for nuclear waste barrels and assessing their impact on the local ecosystem. The autonomous diving robot Ulyx is equipped with a camera for 3D images and a sonar system for locating objects using sound and is used to find the nucelear waste, which several countries simply dumped into the sea between the 1950s and 1980s as a seemingly cheap and easy solution for disposing of nuclear waste generated by industrial development and laboratories. It wasn't until 1993 that the disposal of nuclear waste in the ocean was finally banned. At least 200,000 barrels are believed to be in the Northeast Atlantic alone at depths of 3,000 to 5,000 meters. However, the exact location of the nuclear waste is unknown. Little is known about the condition of the barrels and whether they are located individually or in groups. The researchers are therefore currently working in the area where probably half of the waste ended up. The team wants to create a map of nuclear barrel finds and take numerous samples from water, the seabed, and animals. The drums were designed to withstand the pressure of the depths, but not to truly contain the radioactivity.

Atalante and Horizon Arctic deployed ROVs to search submersible Titan

In the afternoon of June 22, 2023, it has been confirmed that two deepwater ROVs, or remotely operated vehicles, have arrived at the site where the submersible 'Titan'went missing, with one having reached the sea floor. The submersible attached to the Canadian vessel 'Horizon Arctic' has reached the sea floor. The Victor 6000, which is operated from the 'Atalante', has also been deployed. Working in four-hour shifts, a team of two pilots will navigate and control its movement from a control room on board the surface ship. There will also be a third person in the control room helping with the mission. They could be from the Canadian coastguard or from the company which operates the missing submersible. The lights and cameras that Victor 6000 has on board will enable the team on the surface ship to see in real time what is on the floor of the ocean to a distance roughly equivalent to a small tennis court. The French submersible also has two mechanical arms capable of extremely delicate manoeuvres such as cutting or removing debris.

Medevac off Nouméa

On Sep 16, 2015, at 10:25 a.m. the MRCC Noumea was contacted by maritime medical coordination center (MMCC) in Toulouse, after a crew member of the "L'Atalante" was seriously wounded in a hand with a partial amputation of the thumb. After a consultation, the medical evacuation of the wounded was decided. The MRCC dispatched a Puma helicopter of the Army in New Caledonia with the health service of the army on board. "The Atalante" was located 330 nautical miles south of Nouméa and had to approach the coast so that the patient could be hoisted. On Sep 17 at 8:10 a.m. the helicopter took off in Tontouta and reached the ship at 8:50 a.m. At 9 a.m. the patient was aboard and taken to Nouméa where he was delivered to an ambulance at 9:55 a.m. and taken to the CHT Gaston Bourret for treamtment. French report with photos: http://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/ifremer-evacuation-medicale-sur-latalante-au-large-de-noumea