Pete Roche of Greenpeace has given the following comment on the recent reports by Copeland/DoH/EA/HSE/MAFF/NRPB and by COMARE/RWMAC.
BACKGROUND
In February 1998 the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) warned the public not to handle, slaughter or eat pigeons caught within 10 miles of the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. Pigeons being fed at a house in Seascale, about 2 miles from Sellafield, had been found to contain high levels of radioactivity in the breast meat. BNFL, which owns Sellafield, began a cull of the pigeons feeding at the house.
Greenpeace collected a number of the culled pigeons and had them analysed by independent laboratories. These analyses revealed that some of the pigeons were so radioactive they should have been classified as flying nuclear waste. High levels of plutonium were also found in the feathers of the birds. The laboratory at the University of Bremen in Germany, which undertook some of the analysis for Greenpeace, stated that this plutonium could be easily dislodged from the feathers and could therefore pose a health threat to anyone handling the birds. Short-lived radioactive substances were also found in the analysis, which suggested some of the contamination could be from recent discharges.
A report commissioned by Greenpeace from health physicist Dr David Sumner concluded that part of the system for protecting the public from radioactivity was "fatally flawed", because the people most exposed to radioactive wastes from Sellafield - those feeding the pigeons - may have been incorrectly identified for over 20 years.
KEY QUESTIONS ARISING FROM THE REPORTS
1. Why was the contamination undetected for so long?
"...both Committees consider that it is unacceptable that sources of the magnitude necessary to have contaminated pigeons to this level had not been managed in a way that prevented access by wildlife, thereby eliminating the risk of transfer to another location" (COMARE/RWMAC report, p.vi)
The Seascale pigeons were so contaminated by Sellafield they should have been classified as nuclear waste themselves. When they were finally culled they were sent, along with soil from the garden of the pigeon sanctuary, end even the garden gnomes, to the Drigg nuclear waste dump nearby. The pigeon sanctuary has existed in Seascale for 22 years without this leakage of radioactive waste being detected.
Eight different Government departments, regulators, advisory committees and the local council have been involved in producing these reports, yet no sanction has been imposed on BNFL for its failure to contain its wastes - possibly for as long as 20 years or more.
"On-site measures to prevent wildlife being exposed to contamination are the responsibility of BNFL and are regulated by HSE." (Copeland et al report, para 8.1, p14).
BNFL has clearly failed in this responsibility, and the regulators have failed for many years to check them. The reports document recent actions to cull the pigeons and prevent them reaching radioactive waste, but they do not explain why BNFL and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) took no action to stop the spread of nuclear contamination by wildlife in the past.
2. What about the health threat from other wildlife spreading nuclear waste?
"The report has described in detail the discovery and assessment of a pathway for the exposure of people to radioactivity that had not previously been recognised." (Copeland et al report, p15).
The new reports calculate that the dose to the women who fed the pigeons at Seascale was around 600 microSieverts in the year before the contamination was discovered. This is more than twice as high as the official estimated dose from Sellafield to the "critical group" (the people expected to be those most exposed to radiation from the plant).
The reports show that the most important of the pathways now known for radioactive substances from Sellafield into people's bodies was completely missed, possibly for as long as 22 years. They therefore confirm the view of health physicist Dr David Sumner that "...the concept of the critical group - a crucial part of the radiological protection of the public - is seen to be fatally flawed."
In his study on the pigeons for Greenpeace Dr Sumner warned "The findings described here show that existing methods may not in fact have identified 'those members of the public with the highest exposure', and there may be additional important pathways previously undreamed of."
The new reports also recognise that the spread of radioactive waste by the pigeons themselves may not be the only pathway missed:
"...For example, very recently the possibility that other wildlife (eg. insects and doves) may be implicated in the spread of contamination into the environment has been highlighted in the US.
Consequently the working group is of the opinion that the operators of all nuclear sites should review their specific operations and the specific characteristics of their sites to seek to identify any mechanisms that have the potential to lead to the transfer of contamination to the environment." (p15)
The reports recommend future reviews of other unusual pathways for radioactive waste to spread to people's homes, but they do not explain how in practice these pathways will be identified. Greenpeace believes much more must be done to contain existing radioactive waste, and to stop making any more of it, because in practice finding "hotspots" and pathways for nuclear contamination is extremely difficult.
3. Were the pigeons contaminated only by the "historic legacy" of nuclear waste at Sellafield?
"...the levels of activity and the radionuclide composition were extremely variable, suggesting the possibility of a multiplicity of sources of contamination within the Sellafield site." (COMARE/RWMAC report, p.7)
BNFL applied to the Environment Agency in 1997 to increase the some discharges of radioactive gases from Sellafield into the air. A decision on whether to allow these increases, and continued discharges to sea, has yet to be made by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott. When analysis of Greenpeace samples by the University of Bremen showed some short-lived radioactive substances (ones that would not be detected if they had been produced a long time ago), Greenpeace stated that a source of some of the contamination could be BNFL's routine discharges of radioactive gases from its chimneys into the air.
BNFL said:
"These claims are absolute nonsense. The contamination found on the pigeons at Seascale has nothing to do with routine operations at Sellafield or licensed discharges at the site."
The COMARE/RWMAC report, whilst accepting BNFL's view that old buildings could be the main source of contamination of the birds, give three mechanisms to explain the presence of these short-lived radioactive substances on some of the birds. One of these is:
"...deposition, particularly during wet weather, arising from authorised aerial discharges from the site." (COMARE/RWMAC report, para 19, p9)
The report also states that the birds probably got some of their contamination by eating grit from the roofs of the buildings (p.14). Greenpeace believes the most likely source of contamination of these roofs is the discharges of radioactive gases from Sellafield's chimneys. This means that past official calculations of the threat to human health from the discharges may be completely wrong. The reports fail to recommend further study of this route, or its implications for Sellafield's discharge authorisations.
4. Why is no action recommended in the reports to stop more nuclear waste arising?
Nuclear waste fuel from all over Britain and from overseas continues to be sent to Sellafield. Reprocessing this waste - separating unused uranium and plutonium from it - makes it impossible to contain all the radioactive liquids and gases that arise. Some nuclear wastes from reprocessing are discharged directly into the sea and air at Sellafield. Others are stored as liquids in tanks, or as solids in stores, or contaminate the buildings on the site.
Most countries store their nuclear waste fuel, making it easier to manage and monitor the wastes and to contain them. An end to nuclear reprocessing at Sellafield is long overdue. The potential for contamination of the environment and wildlife, and the threat to human health, from Sellafield would be greatly reduced if existing nuclear waste was responsibly stored there instead of being reprocessed.
For further information contact:
Greenpeace, Canonbury Villas, London, N1 2PN.
Tel: 0171-865-8100
References
Pete Roche, Campaigner, Greenpeace UK,
Canonbury Villas, London N1 2PN
Direct Line +44 171 865 8229 Fax: +44 171 865 8202
Pete.Roche@uk.greenpeace.org
The Greenpeace UK web site is being rebuilt - in the meantime take a look at
http://www.enviroweb.org/kare/ & http://www.sanebp.com