#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Seems to Say Cesium-Contaminated Dirt Contaminated Groundwater
…On Tuesday experts detected an increased concentration of radioactive cesium in juvenile fish that were caught off the northeastern coast of Honshu Island, which is where Fukushima-1 is located. The local authorities have urged the population to give up fishing and eating fish. … 6 April 2011
No one knows from where, or how, but ever since the higher levels of radioactive cesium started to get detected from the groundwater samples in the observation holes along the seawall at the plant 3 days ago (July 8), particularly in the hole No.1-2, TEPCO’s explanation up to that point became, obviously, invalid.
TEPCO had said that the high levels of tritium and all-beta in the groundwater samples were from the extremely highly contaminated water that leaked from a crack near the Reactor 2 water intake in early April of 2011, and that the soil had absorbed radioactive cesium and that was why the water samples were showing very low levels of radioactive cesium.
That explanation went out the door when 9,000 Bq/liter of cesium-134 and 18,000 Bq/liter of cesium-137 were detected from the hole No.1-2.
The Nuclear Regulatory Authority finally ran out of patience, and took up the subject in their regular press conference on July 10. Chairman Tanaka said it was now possible that the plant had been leaking contaminated water into the ocean for the past two years and 4 months. The same day, TEPCO’s PR tried its best not to commit to anything by avoiding explanation. (Here’s an article by NY Times’ Hiroko Tabuchi, an admirable effort to make sense of extremely confusing press conferences by both NRA and TEPCO.)
But now, TEPCO has come up with the new explanation: It is the dirt particles in the water that are highly radioactive with cesium, not the water itself.
To prove it, TEPCO filtered the water using 0.45μm filter, and measured the radioactivity. Lo and behold! The numbers for cesium went down, to 1/100 of the numbers before filtration! Sigh of relief at TEPCO, no doubt.
That still doesn’t explain the high levels of tritium and all-beta.
The plan is still on, by the way, to release groundwater that is being pumped into tanks upstream to the ocean. TEPCO/government is still trying to obtain consent from the fishery association of Fukushima Prefecture. Some of local fishermen are saying, according to Tokyo Shinbun, that it doesn’t matter anyway, as no one will buy fish caught off the coast of Fukushima anyway.
Lord Freud: ‘We’ve got the circumstances now where… people who are poorer should be prepared to take the biggest risks – they’ve got least to lose.’
Keith Lindsay-Cameron
The poorest people in Britain are being subjected to a state imposed apartheid as welfare rights, workers protections and legal aid, are stripped away, and through the persistent and malicious government and media demonisation of the poor, the imposition of the Bedroom Tax and the increasing use of welfare sanctions of up to three years loss of welfare income and ever more draconian state control.
This is social exclusion on a grand scale accompanied by the outright denial by government that their policies of attrition have anything to do with growing poverty and hardship. Lord Freud has said of the rising number of food banks, ‘It is difficult to know which came first – supply or demand.’ as if food bank usage was some kind of lifestyle choice. It is worth bearing in mind that it was also Freud who said, ‘We’ve got the circumstances now where… people who are poorer should be prepared to take the biggest risks – they’ve got least to lose.’ Quite how that kind of twisted logic works is hard to understand when the bottom line of poverty is the risk to life itself, but then, it is clear that any intrinsic value of life has no part to play in government policy.
In our modern technological nation and ever since the industrial revolution with the loss of traditional cottage/home produce, money is the means of our survival. As with gas and electricity, industrial monopoly has done away with localised, home, initiatives, to create a dependence that is entirely based on monetary exchange for goods and services. Money, therefore, has become a necessity and yet is maintained as a reward for labour, yet which is in no way linked to the actual cost of living. So today in Britain we have a virtually meaningless minimum wage and are as far away from a legislated living wage as ever.
The greater tragedy is that hate crime is on the increase including disability hate crime which is at its highest level since records began. It’s hardly surprising when the DWP and Iain Duncan Smith treat all disability as malingering and, as David Cameron puts it, Britain is for people who want to get on. This is no longer a country in which the poor are welcome and the disabled least of all. Government cuts continue to target the poorest members of society and with yet more cuts on the way, this apartheid against the poor is still, tragically, in its infancy. With the ever increasing privatisation of the state, including the NHS, it is predicted that the NHS could start charging for services within ten years with devastating consequences for the poor who will be least able afford them. July the 5th marked the 65 birthday of the NHS of which Aneurin (Nye) Bevan said, ‘The NHS will survive as long as there are folk with the faith to fight for it.’
Sad to say that not even the far sighted Nye Bevan could have foreseen the rise of the corporate state and the systematic robbery of the poor to pay for an austerity entirely imposed on us by the banks, stock markets and huge corporate interests. People of good faith are necessary as never before to fight this malicious growing apartheid.
….At Garlieston there was an increase in concentrations in mud from 1985 -1997, and at Carlingford in Northern Ireland the concentration of Am-241 in mud appears to be increasing still. This effect of the spread of activity away from Sellafield may continue, at least in the near future…..
Issue 2 (June 2013)
Received 9 May 2012, accepted for publication 19 December 2012, in final form 23 October 2012
Published 13 March 2013
G.J. Hunt, K.S. Leonard* and L M. Hughes*
The concentrations of Cs-137, tritium, Tc-99, Pu-239+240 and Am-241 in representative materials from the Irish Sea were investigated with reference to continuing remobilisation from sediments. Long time series of monitoring data since the 1960s were employed.
Cs-137 in sea water and fish show peaks in concentrations normalised to discharge rate (NACs) from 1985-1989. This is consistent with the time needed for dispersion in sea water following the preceding reductions in discharges; continuing enhancements of NACs above pre-1970s levels follow, consistent with the effect of activity remobilised from sediment. It is estimated that about 300 TBq of Cs-137 were remobilised from the immediate tidal area around Sellafield from 1989-2009. The enhancements in concentrations continue to this day, with the effect of remobilisation at present being ~6 TBq y-1, approximately doubling the effect of direct discharges. To provide an indication for the future, the rate of Cs-137 remobilisation is decreasing with a half-time of ~6 years.
Data for tritium and Tc-99 were examined in view of the interest in these radionuclides. Concentrations broadly reflect the levels of discharges and the need for dispersion. As expected, there is no evidence of sustained remobilisation of tritium, due to its mobility (or low Kd). The same lack of evidence was found to apply for Tc-99 despite known sorption of a small proportion of the discharged activity by Irish Sea sediments.
Pu-239+240, by contrast, shows much evidence of the effect of remobilisation; concentrations in sea water near Sellafield have reduced much slower than the discharges. At Southerness, ~50 km away, there was no significant reduction in sea water concentrations from 1985-1996, and winkles showed an increase then decrease in concentrations over this period, consistent with a spreading of activity. This effect was replicated in mud at Garlieston, ~70 km from Sellafield.
For Am-241, the rate of grow-in from Pu-241 has dominated direct discharges since the late 1970s. Grow-in continues today in the Irish Sea at the rate of ~8 TBq y-1, ~200 times the rate of direct discharge. Winkles at Southerness show evidence of a spreading effect of Am-241, with an increase then decrease from 1985-1996.
At Garlieston there was an increase in concentrations in mud from 1985 -1997, and at Carlingford in Northern Ireland the concentration of Am-241 in mud appears to be increasing still. This effect of the spread of activity away from Sellafield may continue, at least in the near future.
Reference:
G.J. Hunt, K.S. Leonard* and L M. Hughes* (2013) Artificial radionuclides in the Irish Sea from Sellafield: remobilisation revisited. Journal of Radiological Protection 33 (2) p261
Gordon Brown is to lead a Commons debate to demand MoD ‘owns up’ its role in radioactive contamination at Dalgety Bay in Fife, Scotland. Photograph: Joel Ryan/AP
Former prime minister Gordon Brown is demanding the Ministry of Defence “owns up” and takes responsibility for radioactive contamination at a beach.
Brown will lead a Commons debate on Tuesday, highlighting a letter which he says proves the ministry had already accepted blame.
The memo shows the MoD was willing to take action as early as 1990 for contamination at Dalgety Bay in Fife.
Brown, who is the MP for the area, said: “This letter shows that the ministry must now own up, clean up, pay up and hurry up.
I would like to bring to your attention the mechanism by which science journalism is being undermined.. It may explain George Monbiot`s conversion to the nuclear industry among other things. This mechanism is the Science Media Centers of the world and the nuclear industry driven PR machine
There is growing evidence that the existence of SMCs is also encouraging news organizations to downgrade science reporters. Recently the newspaper The Australian sacked its science reporter, Leigh Dayton. The reason she was given by the editors was..
“they could rely on the supply of press releases from the Australian SMC so that their general reporters could write the science news”. [Ed: Leigh Dayton denies having said this and we are currently endeavouring to check with the author of the Columbia Journalism Review paper as to the veracity or otherwise of the above statement.]
A large empirical study carried out recently by Andy Williams of Cardiff University, UK also confirmed that..
Science PR was increasing and independent science journalism was decreasing.
In the UK for some time the independent scientist has been squeezed out of the media and a more pro- industry message is being given to journalists/media outlets, who do not have such a good grip of the full impact of a nuclear disaster.
The UK security services such as MI5 and MI6 have been targeting effective independent scientists and researchers such as Chris Busby, Richard Bramhall and John Large because of their negative reporting on certain aspects of the nuclear industry. the most vicious of which was directed at Chris Busby during the UK nuclear test veterans case where he was replaced with Prof Paddy Regan at the last minute who promptly lost the rest of the cases for the veterans. Richard Bramhall had his email blocked and John Larges web site was hacked.This is just a quick sample of security services interference and a book could be wrote on this subject alone.
With this as a backdrop to the Fukushima Daichi nuclear disaster and the way that it was handled by the media and PR companies. The SMC model was used to get a grip of the information. NGO`s such as CRIIRAD and ACRO did mange some testing of the environment but their role was limited by agreement, by the Japanese government. This can be seen in the way that Greenpeace was warned away very publicly from testing the surrounding waters to the Daichi nuclear site.
Any other scientists such as Chris Busby were stopped from setting up a laboratory to monitor the contamination efficiently and indeed in the case of Chris Busby, a smear campaign was begun by media outlets around the world. Other Japanese independent scientists and health professionals (with experience of Chernobyl) were sidelined by the press and academic worlds.
The Japanese government stopped a genetic test (a simple blood sample) that could tell if the person had damage from ionising radiation. This test needs to be done within three years (earlier for more accurate results) but the Japanese government has blocked it to mitigate the costs to the Insurance and nuclear industries. The Japanese government released only this year that they could not use this test because there needs to be a moral issues debate (the problem of finding illegitamate children was given as a reason why the tests were not done). The only reason that the Japanese government released that statement was because a Scientist had told everyone about the test on an NHK news broadcast (without consulting with the Japanese SMC)
At Fukushima, no physical health effects of radiation have been observed among the general public and effects on workers have been far lower than those at Chernobyl. The INES was meant to aid public understanding of nuclear safety but has, in fact, made it more confused. The INES should be substantially modified or scrapped.
Dr Higson feels he can give advise on health effects though he was wrong on that point but continues to say that the INES should be scrapped even though there is comparable if not more health issue effects being reported even though the Japanese health system is tightly controlled by the government. This shows how the system can be corrupted with bad science and bad viewpoints with no stop checks along the way.. This statement is the last post on the Japanese SMC site with no retraction of the inaccuracies and ommissions..
In fact the combined use of SMC`s throughout the globe has hugely helped the nuclear industry out and got Tepco and others out of paying huge compensation to those effected worst by the disaster. To prove a point on the use of the Japanese SMC to mitigate this disaster and nothing else, we can see that the last entry into the Japanese SMC was in 09/03/2012 . With no mention of the dire results of the Thyroid checks that had been carried out on 150,000 children out of approx 350,000 children who may have been hit by the initial plumes (This is denied in the world of the SMC stating not enough evidence)
A common theme is to concentrate on the psychological aspects of the disaster and make that the main concern. With some blatant lies of course…
On the Fukushima site today:
The four damaged reactors are in a stable cold shutdown state, cooled by water circulated through a treatment plant. Site clean-up, including removal of radioactive rubble, continues. A mid and long-term roadmap for the decommissioning of units 1-4 was issued in December 2011. Phase 1 prepares for the removal of spent fuel from the cooling ponds to commence by 2013. Phase 2 prepares for the removal of fuel debris from the reactor core to commence within 10 years. The final phase completes the decommissioning of the reactors in 30-40 years.
There are still over 100,000 people evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture. In the areas within the 20km evacuation zone with an annual radiation dose of <20mSv/year, it is expected that people will be allowed to return in March 2012. For higher radiation areas, remediation is required before restrictions are lifted by perhaps 2014.
Maybe one way for the SMCs to improve their service during such crises would be to ask the scientists offering comments to also make conflict of interest disclosures. It may, in fact, not be a bad idea to do that with all SMC activities.
I just wanted to introduce you to this side of the science “debate” and how the science is corrupted and biased without independent scientist to keep a check and balance. I was surprised to see the Australian SMC coming out in strength to ignore the plight of the children of Fukushima and save the nuclear industry from a well deserved collapse.
Here is an article i posted last year that might be relevent
Not to mention the extreme decades long MOX contracts that were signed that will force the Japanese government to re start the reactors.. imo [Arclight2011part2]
The threat of radioactive substances spreading into the Pacific Ocean has prompted concerns from Japan’s neighbors
Toxic water at Fukushima likely contaminating sea – Japan’s nuclear watchdog RT.com July 10, 2013 Japan’s nuclear watchdog says that highly contaminated radioactive water is likely seeping into the ground from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors and contaminating the Pacific Ocean.
Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), said the contamination is “strongly suspected” and has been occurring since March 2011, when a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered three meltdowns in the Fukushima plant.
“I think contamination of the sea is continuing to a greater or lesser extent,” Tanaka said. “It was contaminated at the time of the accident, but I think it has been continuing for the last two years. Coming up with countermeasures against all possible scenarios is a top priority.”
The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), claims that the source of contamination is the pit from which radioactive water is leaking into the sea. However, Tanaka believes that this may be not the only source of contamination. Continue reading →
US Still Preparing for Nuclear War Anti War.com by Lawrence Wittner, July 09, 2013Nearly a quarter century after the disappearance of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the U.S. government is still getting ready for nuclear war.
This fact was underscored on June 19, 2013, when the Pentagon, on behalf of President Barack Obama, released a report to Congress outlining what it called the U.S. government’s “Nuclear Employment Strategy.” Although the report indicated some minor alterations in U.S. policy, it exhibited far more continuity than change.
In 2010, the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review declared that it would work toward making deterrence of nuclear attack the “sole purpose” of U.S. nuclear weapons. The 2013 report, however, without any explanation, reported that “we cannot adopt such a policy today.” Thus, as in the past, the U.S. government considers itself free to initiate a nuclear attack on other nations. Continue reading →
Fukushima Groundwater Shows Record Radiation Levels HUFFINGTON POST, Reuters 07/09/2013 “……SITUATION WORSENS Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the Fukushima station, hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, said that an observation well between the damaged reactor No. 2 and the sea showed levels of radioactive caesium-134 were 90 times higher on Monday than they had been the previous Friday.
Tokyo Electric, also known as Tepco, said it detected caesium-134 at 9,000 becquerels per litre, 150 times above Japan’s safety standard. A becquerel is a measure of the release of radioactive energy. The reading for caesium-137, with a half life of 30 years, was some 85 times higher than it had been three days earlier.
The latest findings, 25 metres from the sea, come a month after Tepco detected radioactive caesium in groundwater flowing into its wrecked plant far from the sea on elevated ground. The level of caesium found in June was much lower than the amount announced on Tuesday.
The spike, combined with recent discoveries of high levels of radioactive elements like tritium and strontium, suggest that contaminated water is spreading toward the sea side of the plant from the reactors sitting on higher ground…..
The operator has been flushing water over the three reactors to keep them cool for more than two years, but contaminated water has been building up at the rate of an an Olympic-size swimming pool per week. In April, Tepco warned it may run out of space to store the water and asked for approval to channel what it has described groundwater with low levels of radiation around the plant and to the sea through a “bypass”. Local fishermen oppose the proposal….. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/09/fukushima-groundwater-radiation_n_3565767.html
it would make sense to just stop producing this radioactive trash
At Pilgrim — like Fukushima — spent fuel is stored in a pool high above the reactor. Tarantino says the pool contains all the nuclear waste ever produced by Pilgrim’s reactor.
“We have 40 years worth of spent fuel in the reactor building,” Tarantino said. “Fuel has never left the site.”…… Pilgrim is rapidly running of room. In two years there won’t be any space left in the pool and Pilgrim will have to shut down unless a new waste storage site can be built outside of the reactor building….
Workers have already begun constructing a road to transport huge containers — called dry cask storage — out of the reactor building to a special concrete pad nearby. This is this construction that opponents were trying to photograph with their kite camera……
AUDIOhttp://www.wbur.org/2013/07/10/pilgrim-nuclear-waste-permitResidents Challenge Pilgrim’s Permit For New Nuclear Waste Site By Bruce Gellerman July 10, 2013 PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Since 1972, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant here has generated prodigious amounts of electricity, tons of radioactive waste and plenty of controversy.
Wednesday night, the debate heats up as the Plymouth zoning board votes on whether to allow Entergy — the plant’s owner — to continue with construction on a new waste storage site. The vote could stall or even stop the nuclear power plant for good.
Security, And Public Scrutiny
A few weeks ago, anti-nuclear activists — with the help from the law firm EcoLaw — flew a kite with a camera over the plant. They wanted to see what Entergy was building on the 1,600-acre site along Cape Cod Bay.
“This is the first time in a long time that citizens have pulled back the blanket of secrecy that has allowed Entergy to operate without much public scrutiny on the local level,” said attorney Meg Sheehan, who was born and raised in Plymouth. Continue reading →
A victory for the vets would destroy the current radiation risk model and open the floodgates for more claims If the court were to allow the evidence, a victory is more likely, setting a legal precedent for some 900 other veterans waiting in the wings.
”Millions have died because of this cover up of the effects of internal radiation, and millions more will die if we don’t succeed in destroying this risk model.”
EXPOSED: Health threats of ‘safe’ levels of radiation covered up by Anglo-American establishment in nuke test; vets fight for pensions http://www.naturalnews.com/041130_Christmas_Island_atomic_bomb_tests_veterans.html, July 10, 2013 by: Anna Bragga A pensions case has become the site of a vicious battleground between the Anglo-American establishment and a British scientist in a row over accepted safe levels of radiation exposure.
It began in 2011 when a group of 16 veterans of UK nuclear bomb tests in Australia and Christmas Island applied for pensions on the grounds that their illnesses (and those of their children and grandchildren) were most likely caused by particulate uranium inhalation.
In a tale with more twists than a John Grisham novel, the veterans have had their appeals quashed after being forced to change their firm of solicitors and their expert witness – international radiation authority and Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, Dr. Chris Busby, who has a track record of winning five similar cases in a row.
The veterans, originally represented by Rosenblatts Solicitors, had commissioned Dr. Busby to provide evidence. But Rosenblatts suddenly pulled out of the case in December 2012 after funding provided by the Royal British Legion dried up. Washington-based Hogan Lovells International – a firm with a history of representing government and pharmaceutical companies, quickly filled the gap.
Coincidentally, at the very same time, Dr. Busby had obtained access to secret nuclear test reports by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), revealing information of significance to the case. He had also by then written 12 reports showing new evidence of the link between internal radiation exposure to uranium, the main component of all the bombs and a range of ill health effects. Continue reading →
Experts call for more details on Guangdong uranium plant, South China Morning Post, Olga Wong and Minnie Chan Concern over sketchy nature of details and possible radiation risks from proposed nuclear development in Guangdong.
Nuclear experts and green activists have called for more information from the Guangdong government after limited details were released about its proposal for a uranium processing plant in Jiangmen, about 100 kilometres from Hong Kong.
An announcement by the Jiangmen City Development and Reform Bureau said the 230-hectare plant would carry out uranium conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication.
But the three-page statement, issued last Thursday, did not make it clear whether the plant, in the Longwan industrial district of Zhishanzhen, would perform spent fuel reprocessing – recycling of old fuel rods that could emit high doses of radiation – or what measures would be used to avoid radiation leaks…… Continue reading →
Macau asks questions about proposed uranium processing plant, South China Morning Post, Thursday, 11 July, 2013 Phila Siu Macau has made an official inquiry to the Guangdong government about a proposal to build a uranium processing plant near Jiangmen , but the Hong Kong government would not say yesterday whether it had also done so.
The approach by Macau follows an announcement that the 230-hectare plant was planned for an industrial zone in an area governed by Jiangmen, which is about 100 kilometres from Hong Kong.
The Guangdong authorities have agreed that the radiation control standards for food exported to Hong Kong will be met at the safety level laid down in the Codex Alimentarius Commission Guideline
Spot uranium prices about $39.50/lb with ‘downward’ bias: sourcesWashington (Platts)- Jim Ostroff -9 Jul2013 The spot price of uranium is around $39.50 a pound, unchanged from last Tuesday, but the ongoing weak demand for U3O8 indicates that prices are more likely to soften further than rise in coming weeks, according to price publisher Ux Consulting and market sources.
Ux, in its weekly report Monday, said the spot U3O8 price was $39.50/lb, unchanged from Friday, but that the market “could see further erosion as the month wears on.” It added, “The overall demand situation may not improve anytime soon,” noting it is unlikely “that Japanese reactors will see a surge in restarts in the near future.”
Ux on Monday reduced its daily Broker Average Price — based on information from Evolution Markets and Armajaro Securities — by 6 cents to $39.38/lb. The BAP bid-offer spread Monday was $39.00-$39.75/lb, with the bid down 13 cents and the offer unchanged from Friday…..”The bias still is to the downside a bit” in the uranium spot market, one market source said in an interview Tuesday. “There remains more supply than demand and nobody seems to be motivated on either side,” to conclude deals, he said. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/washington/spot-uranium-prices-about-3950lb-with-downward-21262350
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., sent a letter Tuesday to the head of the federal Department of Energy asking to discuss a plan to ship 403 canisters of bomb-grade nuclear waste through her home state.
The Las Vegas Sun (http://bit.ly/130TXZE ) reports that she berated the department for failing to provide Congress with adequate information about the plan to ship the canisters from the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory in Tennessee to a Nevada National Security Site. Continue reading →
Masao Yoshida Dead: Former Chief Of Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Dies At 58 HUFFINGTON POST, By MARI YAMAGUCHI 07/09/ 13, TOKYO — The nuclear power plant chief who led the life-risking battle to stabilize the cripple Fukushima reactors when they were spiraling into meltdowns two years ago has died of esophageal cancer. He was 58.
Masao Yoshida died Tuesday in a Tokyo hospital, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Yoshimi Hitosugi said. TEPCO officials said his illness was not related to radiation exposure.
Yoshida was in charge of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant when the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami knocked out its power and cooling systems, causing reactor meltdowns and massive radiation leaks.
Recalling the first few days when three reactors suffered meltdowns in succession, Yoshida later said: “There were several instances when I thought we were all going to die here. I feared the plant was getting out of control and we would be finished.”….http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/09/masao-yoshida-dead_n_3565387.html
Frank Munger reports that the schedule for the Uranium Processing Facility in Tennessee, financial competitor to Los Alamos’s recently delayed plutonium counterpart, is even more behind schedule than we thought:
[T]he Department of Energy’s Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan states that the First Phase of the Uranium Processing Facility project will be completed in 2025, which indicated a rather significant delay from previous reports that — just a couple of years ago — had the entire project completed before then. The First Phase is focused on moving the operations now housed in the 9212 uranium processing complex at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Phases Two and Three, incorporating the work now done in Y-12′s 9215 building and 9204-2E (Beta-2E), would not be completed until around 2038.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, in a response to earlier questions about the plan, this week confirmed the schedule in the Stockpile Stewardship report as being the most up-to-date assessment of the work plan for the multibillion-dollar project.
At Garlieston there was an increase in concentrations in mud from 1985 -1997, and at Carlingford in Northern Ireland the concentration of Am-241 in mud appears to be increasing still. This effect of the spread of activity away from Sellafield may continue, at least in the near future.
Reference:
nuclear-news 