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Monitoring of caesium-137 in surface seawater and seafood in both the Irish and North Seas: trends and observations

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to compile selected caesium-137 concentrations in seafood and seawater (the key OSPAR indicators) from the data submitted by the United Kingdom to the OSPAR Commission. The impact upon the surrounding environment of the Irish Sea and North Sea has been determined from trends of caesium-137 concentration data over time, from the start of the OSPAR evaluation period to the present date. Generally, caesium-137 concentrations, in each of the key OSPAR indicators (by sample type and site locations), have declined in both the Irish and North Sea environments over the long time period.

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Acknowledgments

The data used in this study was supported by the UK Policy Divisions of the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the environment agencies (and their predecessors) as part of their radiological surveillance programmes. The authors would also like to express their sincere thanks to Mark Pettitt (DECC) for useful comments on the draft manuscript and to our colleagues at Cefas for their contributions to the collection, distribution, preparation and radioanalysis of samples and collation of data. Finally, the authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cefas, Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Lowestoft, Suffolk, NR33 0HT, UK

    Kins Leonard, Alastair Dewar, Victoria Ly & Trevor Bailey

  2. Food Standards Agency, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London, WC2B 6NH, UK

    Andras Donaszi-Ivanov

Authors
  1. Kins Leonard
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  2. Andras Donaszi-Ivanov
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  3. Alastair Dewar
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  4. Victoria Ly
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  5. Trevor Bailey
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Correspondence to Kins Leonard.

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Leonard, K., Donaszi-Ivanov, A., Dewar, A. et al. Monitoring of caesium-137 in surface seawater and seafood in both the Irish and North Seas: trends and observations. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 311, 1117–1125 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-5071-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-5071-3

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