The Severn Estuary is contaminated with five times the normal background
levels of radioactive carbon-14, say Scottish researchers. The isotope, which
has a half-life of 5730 years and is easily incorporated into the food chain,
was discharged by a medical isotope production plant run by Amersham
International in Cardiff.
In the latest Journal of Environmental Radioactivity (vol 40, p 89),
the scientists from the Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre in
East Kilbride also report that discharges from the Sellafield plant in Cumbria
have increased concentrations of carbon-14 in the northeast Irish Sea up to 35
times normal background level.
