nuclear-news

Key points:

• New research will look at remaining radioactive residue in Montebello Islands
• Plutonium nuclides persist in sediment of the marine environment
• The research may be used in future to track fish migrations along the WA coast

Sixty years after the British government conducted nuclear explosion testing on the islands, there is little data available to find how much residue plutonium still exists.

The project hopes to be the first study to outline how and where man-made radioactivity is still existing in the marine sediment.

Collections of sediment are being collected from remote field trips to the islands to analyse amounts of residue plutonium radionuclides.,,,,,,,,,,,,

Ms Hoffman says other island nations affected by nuclear blasts will be able to use the Montebello Islands research as a reference baseline to start their own investigations.

Will it inform health research?

Ms Hoffman says the first step is to find out what remains there as a legacy…………..

The project is a collaboration between the Edith Cowan University, the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-22/montebellos-nucelar-fallout-research/13260242