Increase in radioactive discharges into Irish Sea from Sellafield

RADIOACTIVE discharges from Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant increased between 2000 and 2001, new figures reveal.

Waste from the British Nuclear Fuels’ plant continues to be the dominant source of artificial radioactivity in the Irish Sea, according to a study from the Irish radiation watchdog. “The most significant source of radioactive contamination in the Irish Sea is the discharge of low-level liquid waste from BNFL’s nuclear processing plant at Sellafield,” said the report by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland.

The Irish Sea is also being contaminated by the disruption of large deposits of radioactive material dumped during the 1970s and 1980s.