Sellafield Radioactive Discharge Reports Inadequate

EDINBURGH, Scotland, March 7, 2003 (ENS) - The monitoring of radioactive discharges from the British Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant on the Irish Sea is not adequate to give a comprehensive picture of the radioactivity's effects on the environment, particularly in Scotland, said the organization that represents local governments in the British Isles.

A report on the monitoring was commissioned by KIMO UK, which represents coastal authorities in Scotland, England and Wales. KIMO UK is affiliated with KIMO international, an environmental organization of local authorities representing over five million coastal inhabitants around northern Europe that works to clean up pollution in the North Sea.

Nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield discharges a radioactive substance to the Irish Sea. (Photo courtesy BNFL)

"We do not believe that the current sampling regime provides SEPA with sufficient information to make adequate assessments to fulfil their statutory duties to protect the public health and the environment of Scotland," said Aberdeen Councillor Jurgen Thomaneck, who chairs KIMO UK.

"Simple assurances from officials or scientists that radioactivity levels are perfectly safe are no longer sufficient to satisfy public concerns," he said.

The "scale and scope" of the UK monitoring program falls short of what is needed to give a comprehensive picture of the effects of the Sellafield discharges on the Scottish environment, the report concludes. And the "scale and scope" of the sampling program in Solway Firth, the body of water on which Sellafield is located, is "inadequate," the report says.

Local monitoring results need to be presented in an easily understood format throughout Scotland, KIMO UK said today, but currently the data that results from whatever monitoring does take place is presented in a matter that makes it inaccessible to the public.

The use of seaweed as a fertilizer is widespread in Scotland, and sheep regularly feed on seaweed that may now be contaminated with radioactivity from the Sellafield discharges, warned KIMO UK. The organization is urging the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to carry out a full study into these two practices and conduct regular sampling from the coast of seaweed, soil and vegetables to provide public reassurance.

Seaweed on a Scottish beach (Photo credit unknown)

The British Environment Minister Margaret Beckett last December granted Sellafield operator British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. a permit to discharge technetium-99 (Tc-99) from Sellafield until 2006. At the same time, Beckett has asked the British radiation protection authority to investigate options for storing solidified Tc-99 waste on shore.

Today in Edinburgh, KIMO UK called for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and other relevant agencies to "immediately review their monitoring regimes" so that monitoring data can be presented in a manner that makes it understandable and accessible.

After the meeting Thomaneck said, ”We recognize that the regulatory control of the Sellafield facility rests with the Environment Agency for England and Wales. However, the discharges from Sellafield travel as far away as the northern coast of Norway, passing both the east and west coasts of the UK, including Scotland."

Aberdeen Councillor Jurgen Thomaneck chairs KIMO UK. (Photo courtesy Aberdeen City Council)

Details of all UK seawater sampling should be published annually. Foreign marine environment agencies carry out regular monitoring in and around Scottish waters and this data should be incorporated in the annual reports published in the UK, the report advises.

A program of monitoring farmed fish and farmed mussels and publishing the results would provide reassurance to consumers and provide early warning to producers of any potential problems.

The KIMO Report was compiled by the Northern European Information Group and will be available on the KIMO International website at: http://www.zetnet.co.uk/coms/kimo from March 10.