CELTIC LEAGUE: SELLAFIELD POLLUTION - TECHNETIUM LEVELS STILL A WORRY
The annual statistics from radioactivity monitoring on the Isle of Man have been issued. The impact of discharges from Sellafield is still a major feature of the report.
In relation to Technetium 99 the report notes that "concentrations are now (2007) less than a quarter of the peak level of 418 Bq.kg-1 found in February 1998".
However, the fact is that 2007 levels are still four times higher than the level recorded by the laboratory in 1995.
In addition, reductions in recent years have become more erratic and in 2004 Technetium levels which had been in decline showed a marked, and still unexplained, increase. The Isle of Man government laboratory say that the increase at that time "is likely to be the result of some remobilisation of the Tc-99 trapped on seabed sediment closer to Sellafield". However, this is simply a theory postulated by the Radiological Institute of Ireland (RPII) some years ago (see attached links).
Comparators of the latest Manx data (relating to Technetium) with the most recent figures published in Ireland by the RPII also throw up some interesting distinctions. The 2006 RPII report shows that Technetium concentrations (measured in seaweed) are now just half what they were in 1995. However, as indicated above, Isle of Man figures of concentrations (in Lobster) are four times higher.
The inconsistency could be explained by the differing sampling sources. On the other hand it could also be explained by the Isle of Man's closer proximity to the World's worst nuclear polluter - Windscale/Sellafield.
RADIOACTIVITY MONITORING ON THE ISLE OF MAN 2007 - Isle of Man Government Laboratory Report July 2008 at:
Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Environment 2006 at:
Also see also earlier Celtic News reports at:
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Also see technetium discharges related article in the series of items in the older Celtic News archive at:
J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League
28/06/08
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