Environmental Monitoring

The Environment Agency (EA) is responsible under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 for authorising discharges from Sellafield. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), an Executive Agency within the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), has been sampling seawater, fish, shellfish and sediments in the Irish Sea since the early 1950s. In Northern Ireland the Industrial Pollution and Radiochemical Inspectorate (IPRI) monitors the impact of Sellafield discharges on the Northern Ireland coastal environment.

IPRI arrange for samples of seaweed, sediment, fish, nephros, and winkles to be collected quarterly and forwarded to the CEFAS Research Laboratory at Lowestoft. The seaweeds are collected in the Ards peninsula and at Portrush; the marine life samples are obtained as far as possible from commercial landings at Kilkeel and Portavogie. Sediment samples are collected from the five marine loughs.

The Northern Ireland results are published annually in Radioactivity in Food and the Environment(.PDF 3.94Mb) together with an Appendix(.PDF 262Kb) issued by the EA, NIEA, the Food Standards Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The results are also published in the Northern Ireland Abstract of Statistics. The levels of radioactivity measured indicate that they are of negligible radiological significance.

In addition to this programme, IPRI monitor the gamma dose rate in air over intertidal sediments in each district council area which has a coastline. The results to date indicate minimal radioactivity deposition and are consistent with normal background levels.