Radioactive Particles- Big Footprints

Each tide that washes into the beautiful "Energy Coast" of Cumbria brings toxic gifts that will reverberate down through the generations. These gifts are courtesy of Sellafield and the latest "discovery" of measurable radioactive particles was found on Harrington Beach near Workington.  

Click on a thumbnail for a slideshow view

Hidden in the latest Allerdale Borough Council agenda notes is a very brief report filed under "Other." The report describes the  discovery of  alpha-rich particles, around 2mm wide, on December 12.

This follows the reporting of similar finds on Allerdale beaches of beta-rich particles in late 2008 – one found in Workington in October and one in Allonby in November.  Councillor Joe Sandwith who has previously urged Allerdale to withdraw its "expression of interest" in an underground high level nuclear dump, flagged up the risk of radiation linked diseases such as cancer to the public from these radioactive particles.

Former BNFL employee and now chair of Allerdale's Nuclear Issues Task Group, Councillor Mike Davidson, said that the particles were unlikely to be found by the public because of their small size, he went on to say that alpha-rich particles such as this are only of danger if ingested, while beta-rich particles can be a risk to health if they are in contact with the skin for any length of time. 

Councillors have spoken of the "flippant" way in which this serious issue has been handled for example with so little detail and filed under "other."

The "Energy Coast" is monitored from Silecroft to Solway and up to date more than 1,200 radioactive items have been detected and removed (Environment Agency).  

What about the undetected radioactive particles?  

A graphic reconstruction showing the Radioactive Footprint of the "Energy Coast" is called for.

The French Government's official agency on radiation and nuclear matters, the Institut de Radioprotection et Surete Nucleaire has produced a graphic showing the Chernobyl plume. It is based on weather patterns for the time period April 26 to May 6 1986 when the fire was burning inside the stricken reactor, and on known Cs-137 measurements. It is a remarkably graphic illustration of the huge extent of the radioactive contamination of East and West Europe (and eventually the rest of the Northern Hemisphere) caused by the Chernobyl catastrophe. After you have opened the web page please wait for 1 or 2 minutes while the film (15 MB) is downloaded to your computer: it then should start automatically. http://zerodegreeburn.com/chernobyl/

Links:

Allerdale Agenda 2nd March 2011

page 19

Other

A survey was recently carried out on beaches in Allerdale by the same team which surveys the beaches in Copeland. Two very small radioactive particles were found which were less than 2mm in diameter. The Environment Agency asked the Health Protection Agency about the health implications of such finds. The advice from the HPA is - “The information now available does not warrant a change from the advice given in 2007. No special precautionary actions are required at this time to limit access to or use of the beaches. However, monitoring and retrieval should be continued with emphasis on frequented areas.”  The full report from the Environment Agency can be found on their web site at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/110563.aspx

Silence Reigns..

PETITION - No 'Geological' Nuke Dump!

Thanks to Toxic Coast for the Pics!

Radiation Free Lakeland

Contact email: rafl@mariannebirkby.plus.com