foeenery%gn@cdp.uucp (10/08/89)
/* Written 1:51 pm Oct 6, 1989 by gn:foeenergy in cdp:foe.press */
/* ---------- "Sellafield contamination on Esk" ---------- */
Embargo: 00.01 Hours Monday, 9 October, 1989
Radioactive Hot spot along cumbrian river - Contamination
from sellafield up to 13 times the Limit
A report published today by Friends of the Earth's (FoE)
Radiation Monitoring Unit [1], contains the results of a
survey of radioactive contamination along the River Esk,
near Sellafield in Cumbria.
The report shows that banks of the four mile tidal
stretch of the River Esk and adjacent low lying land are
extensively contaminated with many different
radionuclides including Ruthenium, Caesium, Americium and
Plutonium [2]. The source of this contamination is the
reprocessing plant at British Nuclear Fuels (BNF)
Sellafield.
In places radioactive contamination is up to 13 times the
National Radiological Protection Board's (NRPB)
recommended limits for environmental contamination and up
to 50 times the level at which the NRPB recommend that
public exposure to radiation should be investigated [3].
These findings are released at a time when radioactive
contamination from Sellafield, above the NRPB's
recommended limits, has also been recently found along
the North Wales [4] and South West Scotland [5]
coastlines.
The report highlights the inadequacy of the official
monitoring programme and criticises the failure of the
Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) to
alert the public to the presence of the contamination
[6].
Friends of the Earth makes a number of recommendations to
Mr John Selwyn Gummer, the Minister for Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food. These include:
| That MAFF be instructed to urgently undertake a
detailed radiological assessment of public exposure in
the area and publish the results.
| The Minister should explain his failure to inform the
public on the extent of the contamination.
| MAFF should commission an aerial survey [7] along the
entire coast of Cumbria to identify other areas where
Sellafield discharges have resulted in extensive
contamination. These results should be published.
| Considering that contamination levels will continue to
build up in the area as a result of plant discharges, all
discharges from BNF Sellafield should be stopped
immediately.
Patrick Green, FoE's Radiation Consultant said today:
"Our results are clearly not localised hot spots. Three
recent, separate and independent findings of
contamination in estuaries of England, Scotland and Wales
over the limits is extremely worrying. One is entitled
to ask whether similar hot spots remain undiscovered.
Quite clearly the official monitoring agencies have
failed to alert the public to these areas of
contamination. This lack of action is totally
unacceptable. These results demand urgent investigation
as the public could be at risk"
CONTACTS
Paul Watts 01-490 0224 (work)
Co-ord Radiation Monitoring Unit 01-267 9994 (home)
Patrick Green
Radiation Consultant 01-328 3837 (home)
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] Unacceptable Levels: A Report by the Friends of the
Earth's Radiation Monitoring Unit of the Sellafield
Contamination of the River Esk, Cumbria, UK, Watts, P. &
Green, P., FoE September 1989. 3-50.
[2] The estuary of the River Esk is situated five miles
south of the Sellafield reprocessing plant. Radiation
levels found on the banks of the Esk and on the low-lying
land appear to be independent of distance upriver but as
a function of flooding. Suspended radioactive particles
in the water are deposited on land every time there is a
particularly high tide or storm.
[3] In order to put the radiation contamination levels
into perspective, they can be compared with the general
limits recommended by the National Radiological
Protection Board (NRPB) for environmental material. These
Generalised Derived Limits (GDLs) are based upon
"deliberately cautious assumptions", which can be used to
assess the significance of low-level environmental
contamination. The GDLs are based upon the dose limit of
1 mSv per year (note: the NRPB now recommend a lower dose
limit of 0.5 mSv). Where environmental contamination
exceeds a GDL it does not mean that the public dose limit
has been exceeded - for this to be determined an
investigation of local habits would need to be
undertaken. However, it does mean that an investigation
of public radiation exposure is warranted, as the dose
limit may be exceeded. At 25% of the GDL, the NRPB
recommend that a detailed investigation should be made of
. the critical group exposure. In places this
investigation level was exceeded by a factor of 50.
[4] Aerial Radiometric Survey of Parts of North Wales in
July 1989, Sanderson, East & Scott (SURRC). An aerial
survey, commissioned by HTV Wales and conducted by the
Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre (SURRC)
this summer discovered Sellafield-derived contamination
on land in the Conway Valley and near Llanfairfechan.
Caesium contamination above the GDL and Americium
contamination approaching the investigation level were
detected. The gamma radiation dose rates in these
locations are 5-10 times the natural gamma background.
[5] An Assessment of Artificial Radionuclide Transfer
from Sellafield to South West Scotland: Scottish
Universities Research and Reactor Centre (SURRC) Report.
(Ref: DoE/RW/89/127). In July, research commissioned by
the Department of the Environment on behalf of the
Scottish Office showed that radiation contamination from
Sellafield was detected along the banks of the Rivers
Urr, Nith and Cree off the Solway Firth. Sellafield
contamination was detected up to 17.5 km upriver. In a
number of places the Caesium levels exceeded the NRPB's
Generalised Derived Limits (GDLs) and in these places
Americium and Plutonium levels were close to, or exceeded
the investigation level. The authors of the report,
SURRC, stated that the contamination implied "the need to
review critical group doses".
[6] British Nuclear Fuels (BNF), as part of its
authorisation, carries out a statutory programme of
environmental monitoring. The results are published
annually. The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food
(MAFF) carries out a similar monitoring programme set up
to verify the satisfactory control of liquid radioactive
waste discharges to the aquatic environment, and to
ensure that the resulting public radiation exposure is
within the nationally accepted limits.
Friends of the Earth released the preliminary results in
February of this year because the contamination was at
such a level to justify immediate publication and because
neither MAFF or BNF refer to the contamination in their
annual monitoring reports.
[7] An aerial survey is a method whereby radiation is
detected with highly sensitive radiation detectors
operated from low flying aircraft. Although this method
is still under development, it is a rapid and effective
method of locating problem areas.
---
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