Radiation and North Wales Coastal Land

Members will wish to note the publication today of independent report, commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government, which concludes that  there is no evidence of significant transfer of radioactivity from the Irish Sea onto coastal land in North Wales.

In November 2003, Welsh Assembly Government contracted Westlakes Scientific Consulting to quantify the transfer of radionuclides on the North Wales coastline and to update the previous assessment of doses to the public on the coastline as a result of sea to land transfer. Previous studies in the late 1980s indicated that the dose from sea to land transported to land via sea spray transfer was small.

The study entitled “Sea to Land Transfer of Anthropogenic Radionuclides to the North Wales Coast” found that  sample results were generally low and consistent with expected values, the doses were well below the UK limits. Sediment samples at one site (Anglesey side of Menai Strait) showed higher than expected technetium-99 levels, but were  of low radiological significance.

The report’s findings have been confirmed by research on technetium-99 levels undertaken by the Environment Agency and the Food Standards Agency on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government. The estimated doses to the public from Technetium-99 are very low (about 0.01 micro-sievert per year, significantly below the UK statutory dose limit of 1000 micro-sieverts per year). FSA estimates that doses to high-rate consumers of marine foods from the Menai Strait are similar to doses for high rate consumers in other areas around the Irish Sea.

HPA has reviewed the results for technetium-99 in marine sediment, specifically the unusually high value at one particular location, and concluded that, from the radiological protection point of view,  that the Technetium-99 findings were insignificant in both radiological and health protection terms.


There has been public and media interest  in radiation discharges and their effect across the North Wales coast.  In particular, subsequent to the start of the study, in February 2004, the alleged existence of an increased risk of childhood cancers in areas of the North Wales coastline was reported in the media. This was based on work undertaken by an organisation, Green Audit, that claimed an increased risk was due to liquid discharges from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant to the Irish Sea.

In March 2005, a UK Independent Expert Advisory Committee,  the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) reported on papers produced by Green Audit, the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit and the National Public Health Service for Wales on the incidence of childhood leukaemia, brain tumours and retinoblastoma near the Menai Strait. COMARE concluded that the temporal pattern of the claimed excess of disease was not what would have been expected if nuclear discharges were responsible.

The findings of the survey help put in context the levels of man-made radiation to be found in the area, arising from sea to land transfer of radioactivity from the Irish Sea. The findings are that the doses from sea-land transfer of radioactivity are very small compared with dose limits, and are insignificant in terms of risks to the health of the population.