By Claire Smith
A SECTION of Scottish coastline has been cordoned off after scientists found a radioactive object ten times more contaminated than any found there before.
Particles were first found on the shoreline of Dalgety Bay more than 20 years ago and the contamination has been linked to childhood cancer.
The radiation is believed to originate from radium coatings from dials on military aircraft based at Donibristle airbase which were incinerated after the Second World War.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has said around 100 new radioactive fragments wash up at Dalgety Bay each year.
Sepa expert Dr Paul Dale said the level of contamination found recently in one fairly large piece of debris found in Dalgety Bay measured ten megabecquerels.
Previously the highest level of radiation measured in the area was 1.1 megabecquerels. “What has changed is that this particle is ten times more active than anything we have found before.”
He said the radiation in the object uncovered was of a high enough level to cause burns to the skin. Radioactive particles can also cause health problems if injested – particularly by a child.
Sepa scientists now believe the radioactive material is coming from landfill containing aircraft debris that is now eroding into the sea.
The agency’s chief executive, Dr Campbell Gemmell, said: “Over the weekend, Sepa scientists continued to investigate an area of the foreshore of Dalgety Bay. Further sources were found.
“An initial reading of activity in one of these sources has given sufficient concern for Sepa to have asked Fife Council to restrict access to the area.
“On Wednesday, Fife Council cordoned off an area of the foreshore close to the public footpath and temporarily erected further warning signs. In the short term, Sepa will continue the current investigation and ensure the removal of any further sources detected.”
Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead has now written to the Ministry of Defence calling for action.
He said: “We will continue to press the MoD to resolve the matter and, following the most recent survey work at Dalgety bay, I will be writing to the Secretary of State for Defence today to call for immediate action, and that the MoD meets its responsibilities.
“We absolutely must get to the root cause of this repeated contamination of Dalgety Bay, and I want to reassure the local community that we will do everything in our power to prevent, once and for all, any radioactive sources being a significant hazard to the public.”
Helen Eadie, Labour MSP for Cowdenbeath, said: “I have been pursuing this issue for a number of years and it is vital now that we get an accurate assessment of this new information. I am seeking an urgent meeting with Sepa to progress matters, as the most important consideration must be the welfare and well-being of local people.”
Fife councillor Alice McGarry, whose ward includes Dalgety Bay, said: “Something needs to be done and we need to get to the bottom of this once and for all.”
Stan Blackley, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “We’ve known about the radioactive items on Dalgety Bay since at least 1990, yet we’re still getting nasty surprises on a regular basis.
“It’s highly worrying that nuclear materials are still being uncovered, that there has been little effort to actually deal with this problem over the past twenty years.
“We still have no idea of the scale and number of radioactive items present, and the potential threat they pose to public health.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “The MoD has been working with Sepa and the Dalgety Bay Forum to resolve the issues at Dalgety Bay.”
http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/radioactive_lockdown_on_the_shores_of_fife_1_1909857
Showing posts with label radioactive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radioactive. Show all posts
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Radioactive rabbit trapped near Richland
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
A radioactive rabbit caught at Hanford just north of Richland had Washington State Department of Health workers looking for contaminated droppings Thursday.
Contaminated animals occasionally are found at the nuclear reservation, but more often they are in the center of Hanford, far from town.
The rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught the Department of Health's attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with the public -- such as if it had been caught by a dog or if its droppings were deposited in an area open to the public.
It's the Department of Health's job to look for contamination off-site and make sure there is no public hazard.
However, an afternoon of surveying turned up no contaminated droppings in areas accessible to the public, said Earl Fordham, the department's regional director of the Office of Radiation Protection.
Washington Closure Hanford, the Department of Energy contractor cleaning up Hanford in the 300 Area, found the contaminated rabbit droppings last week, said company spokesman Todd Nelson.
Several rabbits have been trapped since then and one of them was found to be highly contaminated internally with radioactive cesium, Fordham said.
Because the number of contaminated droppings being discovered on-site has decreased, officials believe it's possible that just one rabbit might have been contaminated and they now are finding old droppings from it.
Washington Closure has narrowed the area of possible contamination to the 327 Building. It was used during the Cold War for testing highly radioactive materials, particularly fuel elements and cladding that were irradiated at Hanford reactors as part of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons program.
The above-ground hot cells were pulled out of the building and demolition began on the structure about a month ago. One theory is that the rabbit might have been sipping water that collected in the building's basement after water was sprayed during demolition to suppress dust.
Washington Closure has taken steps to keep other animals from getting near the building. Workers have put up a chain-link fence and removed any vegetation that might provide a rabbit snack.
They also scented the perimeter of the building with fox urine to deter animals that might burrow and get closer to any contamination. Gravel and steel plates have been used to cover places that have been identified as potential sources of the contamination.
Department of Health workers were using handheld instruments to search for radioactive droppings on Thursday, looking for "polite rabbits," Fordham said. Rabbit droppings are more likely to be found hidden under bushes than out in the open, such as on roads that the public can drive on north of Richland.
The farthest droppings have been found from the 327 Building is about 100 yards to the south, which still is within an area closed to the public.
Hanford has an extensive program to check for contaminated animals. In 2009, 33 contaminated animals or animal materials such as droppings were found on the site.
In Hanford's earlier years, contaminated animals were more common.
Liquid waste with radioactive salts was discharged into the ground near central Hanford during the Cold War. Rabbits and other animals were attracted to the salts and spread radioactive droppings across as much as 13.7 square miles of sage-covered land before the waste sites were sealed to keep out animals in 1969.
Federal economic stimulus money has been used to survey for the radioactive hot spots that remain four decades later.
In a more recent case, so many radioactive wasp nests were found spread across six acres by H Reactor in northern Hanford that up to a foot of soil was dug up to remove the nests.
The nests were built by mud dauber wasps in 2003. Water was sprayed to control dust during demolition of a basin attached to the reactor, and the mud created was collected by the wasps to build nests under straw that had been spread nearby to protect newly planted sagebrush seedlings.
There have been a couple of cases in the past two decades of contaminated animals in areas where they potentially could come in contact with the public.
In 1996, a contaminated mouse apparently crawled into a box of food collected by an employee food drive in central Hanford. It was trapped and tested in an abandoned Hanford building previously used by the Tri-Cities Food Bank.
Two years later, gnats and flies were suspected of eating a sugary coating used to fix some radioactive contamination. They then spread the contamination to waste left by workers in offices, such as banana peels and apple cores.
That required 35 tons of trash that could contain the office waste to be dug up from the Richland landfill and returned to Hanford.
A radioactive rabbit caught at Hanford just north of Richland had Washington State Department of Health workers looking for contaminated droppings Thursday.
Contaminated animals occasionally are found at the nuclear reservation, but more often they are in the center of Hanford, far from town.
The rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught the Department of Health's attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with the public -- such as if it had been caught by a dog or if its droppings were deposited in an area open to the public.
It's the Department of Health's job to look for contamination off-site and make sure there is no public hazard.
However, an afternoon of surveying turned up no contaminated droppings in areas accessible to the public, said Earl Fordham, the department's regional director of the Office of Radiation Protection.
Washington Closure Hanford, the Department of Energy contractor cleaning up Hanford in the 300 Area, found the contaminated rabbit droppings last week, said company spokesman Todd Nelson.
Several rabbits have been trapped since then and one of them was found to be highly contaminated internally with radioactive cesium, Fordham said.
Because the number of contaminated droppings being discovered on-site has decreased, officials believe it's possible that just one rabbit might have been contaminated and they now are finding old droppings from it.
Washington Closure has narrowed the area of possible contamination to the 327 Building. It was used during the Cold War for testing highly radioactive materials, particularly fuel elements and cladding that were irradiated at Hanford reactors as part of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons program.
The above-ground hot cells were pulled out of the building and demolition began on the structure about a month ago. One theory is that the rabbit might have been sipping water that collected in the building's basement after water was sprayed during demolition to suppress dust.
Washington Closure has taken steps to keep other animals from getting near the building. Workers have put up a chain-link fence and removed any vegetation that might provide a rabbit snack.
They also scented the perimeter of the building with fox urine to deter animals that might burrow and get closer to any contamination. Gravel and steel plates have been used to cover places that have been identified as potential sources of the contamination.
Department of Health workers were using handheld instruments to search for radioactive droppings on Thursday, looking for "polite rabbits," Fordham said. Rabbit droppings are more likely to be found hidden under bushes than out in the open, such as on roads that the public can drive on north of Richland.
The farthest droppings have been found from the 327 Building is about 100 yards to the south, which still is within an area closed to the public.
Hanford has an extensive program to check for contaminated animals. In 2009, 33 contaminated animals or animal materials such as droppings were found on the site.
In Hanford's earlier years, contaminated animals were more common.
Liquid waste with radioactive salts was discharged into the ground near central Hanford during the Cold War. Rabbits and other animals were attracted to the salts and spread radioactive droppings across as much as 13.7 square miles of sage-covered land before the waste sites were sealed to keep out animals in 1969.
Federal economic stimulus money has been used to survey for the radioactive hot spots that remain four decades later.
In a more recent case, so many radioactive wasp nests were found spread across six acres by H Reactor in northern Hanford that up to a foot of soil was dug up to remove the nests.
The nests were built by mud dauber wasps in 2003. Water was sprayed to control dust during demolition of a basin attached to the reactor, and the mud created was collected by the wasps to build nests under straw that had been spread nearby to protect newly planted sagebrush seedlings.
There have been a couple of cases in the past two decades of contaminated animals in areas where they potentially could come in contact with the public.
In 1996, a contaminated mouse apparently crawled into a box of food collected by an employee food drive in central Hanford. It was trapped and tested in an abandoned Hanford building previously used by the Tri-Cities Food Bank.
Two years later, gnats and flies were suspected of eating a sugary coating used to fix some radioactive contamination. They then spread the contamination to waste left by workers in offices, such as banana peels and apple cores.
That required 35 tons of trash that could contain the office waste to be dug up from the Richland landfill and returned to Hanford.
Radioactive rabbit trapped near Richland
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
A radioactive rabbit caught at Hanford just north of Richland had Washington State Department of Health workers looking for contaminated droppings Thursday.
Contaminated animals occasionally are found at the nuclear reservation, but more often they are in the center of Hanford, far from town.
The rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught the Department of Health's attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with the public -- such as if it had been caught by a dog or if its droppings were deposited in an area open to the public.
It's the Department of Health's job to look for contamination off-site and make sure there is no public hazard.
However, an afternoon of surveying turned up no contaminated droppings in areas accessible to the public, said Earl Fordham, the department's regional director of the Office of Radiation Protection.
Washington Closure Hanford, the Department of Energy contractor cleaning up Hanford in the 300 Area, found the contaminated rabbit droppings last week, said company spokesman Todd Nelson.
Several rabbits have been trapped since then and one of them was found to be highly contaminated internally with radioactive cesium, Fordham said.
Because the number of contaminated droppings being discovered on-site has decreased, officials believe it's possible that just one rabbit might have been contaminated and they now are finding old droppings from it.
Washington Closure has narrowed the area of possible contamination to the 327 Building. It was used during the Cold War for testing highly radioactive materials, particularly fuel elements and cladding that were irradiated at Hanford reactors as part of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons program.
The above-ground hot cells were pulled out of the building and demolition began on the structure about a month ago. One theory is that the rabbit might have been sipping water that collected in the building's basement after water was sprayed during demolition to suppress dust.
Washington Closure has taken steps to keep other animals from getting near the building. Workers have put up a chain-link fence and removed any vegetation that might provide a rabbit snack.
They also scented the perimeter of the building with fox urine to deter animals that might burrow and get closer to any contamination. Gravel and steel plates have been used to cover places that have been identified as potential sources of the contamination.
Department of Health workers were using handheld instruments to search for radioactive droppings on Thursday, looking for "polite rabbits," Fordham said. Rabbit droppings are more likely to be found hidden under bushes than out in the open, such as on roads that the public can drive on north of Richland.
The farthest droppings have been found from the 327 Building is about 100 yards to the south, which still is within an area closed to the public.
Hanford has an extensive program to check for contaminated animals. In 2009, 33 contaminated animals or animal materials such as droppings were found on the site.
In Hanford's earlier years, contaminated animals were more common.
Liquid waste with radioactive salts was discharged into the ground near central Hanford during the Cold War. Rabbits and other animals were attracted to the salts and spread radioactive droppings across as much as 13.7 square miles of sage-covered land before the waste sites were sealed to keep out animals in 1969.
Federal economic stimulus money has been used to survey for the radioactive hot spots that remain four decades later.
In a more recent case, so many radioactive wasp nests were found spread across six acres by H Reactor in northern Hanford that up to a foot of soil was dug up to remove the nests.
The nests were built by mud dauber wasps in 2003. Water was sprayed to control dust during demolition of a basin attached to the reactor, and the mud created was collected by the wasps to build nests under straw that had been spread nearby to protect newly planted sagebrush seedlings.
There have been a couple of cases in the past two decades of contaminated animals in areas where they potentially could come in contact with the public.
In 1996, a contaminated mouse apparently crawled into a box of food collected by an employee food drive in central Hanford. It was trapped and tested in an abandoned Hanford building previously used by the Tri-Cities Food Bank.
Two years later, gnats and flies were suspected of eating a sugary coating used to fix some radioactive contamination. They then spread the contamination to waste left by workers in offices, such as banana peels and apple cores.
That required 35 tons of trash that could contain the office waste to be dug up from the Richland landfill and returned to Hanford.
A radioactive rabbit caught at Hanford just north of Richland had Washington State Department of Health workers looking for contaminated droppings Thursday.
Contaminated animals occasionally are found at the nuclear reservation, but more often they are in the center of Hanford, far from town.
The rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught the Department of Health's attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with the public -- such as if it had been caught by a dog or if its droppings were deposited in an area open to the public.
It's the Department of Health's job to look for contamination off-site and make sure there is no public hazard.
However, an afternoon of surveying turned up no contaminated droppings in areas accessible to the public, said Earl Fordham, the department's regional director of the Office of Radiation Protection.
Washington Closure Hanford, the Department of Energy contractor cleaning up Hanford in the 300 Area, found the contaminated rabbit droppings last week, said company spokesman Todd Nelson.
Several rabbits have been trapped since then and one of them was found to be highly contaminated internally with radioactive cesium, Fordham said.
Because the number of contaminated droppings being discovered on-site has decreased, officials believe it's possible that just one rabbit might have been contaminated and they now are finding old droppings from it.
Washington Closure has narrowed the area of possible contamination to the 327 Building. It was used during the Cold War for testing highly radioactive materials, particularly fuel elements and cladding that were irradiated at Hanford reactors as part of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons program.
The above-ground hot cells were pulled out of the building and demolition began on the structure about a month ago. One theory is that the rabbit might have been sipping water that collected in the building's basement after water was sprayed during demolition to suppress dust.
Washington Closure has taken steps to keep other animals from getting near the building. Workers have put up a chain-link fence and removed any vegetation that might provide a rabbit snack.
They also scented the perimeter of the building with fox urine to deter animals that might burrow and get closer to any contamination. Gravel and steel plates have been used to cover places that have been identified as potential sources of the contamination.
Department of Health workers were using handheld instruments to search for radioactive droppings on Thursday, looking for "polite rabbits," Fordham said. Rabbit droppings are more likely to be found hidden under bushes than out in the open, such as on roads that the public can drive on north of Richland.
The farthest droppings have been found from the 327 Building is about 100 yards to the south, which still is within an area closed to the public.
Hanford has an extensive program to check for contaminated animals. In 2009, 33 contaminated animals or animal materials such as droppings were found on the site.
In Hanford's earlier years, contaminated animals were more common.
Liquid waste with radioactive salts was discharged into the ground near central Hanford during the Cold War. Rabbits and other animals were attracted to the salts and spread radioactive droppings across as much as 13.7 square miles of sage-covered land before the waste sites were sealed to keep out animals in 1969.
Federal economic stimulus money has been used to survey for the radioactive hot spots that remain four decades later.
In a more recent case, so many radioactive wasp nests were found spread across six acres by H Reactor in northern Hanford that up to a foot of soil was dug up to remove the nests.
The nests were built by mud dauber wasps in 2003. Water was sprayed to control dust during demolition of a basin attached to the reactor, and the mud created was collected by the wasps to build nests under straw that had been spread nearby to protect newly planted sagebrush seedlings.
There have been a couple of cases in the past two decades of contaminated animals in areas where they potentially could come in contact with the public.
In 1996, a contaminated mouse apparently crawled into a box of food collected by an employee food drive in central Hanford. It was trapped and tested in an abandoned Hanford building previously used by the Tri-Cities Food Bank.
Two years later, gnats and flies were suspected of eating a sugary coating used to fix some radioactive contamination. They then spread the contamination to waste left by workers in offices, such as banana peels and apple cores.
That required 35 tons of trash that could contain the office waste to be dug up from the Richland landfill and returned to Hanford.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Radioactive Boars Rampaging Through Germany
Published August 03, 2010
FoxNews.com
Wikimedia
Recently, Germany has reported a surge in the wild boar population. According to one recent study, German wild boar litters have six to eight piglets on average, other countries usually only about four or five.
It sounds like the plot of a B-movie, yet it’s bizarrely true: Radioactive boars are on the loose and thriving in Germany’s forests.
A succession of mild winters has left Germany scrambling to deal with a skyrocketing wild boar population. Tales of swarming beasts rampaging through city streets and attacking citizens occur with alarming regularity.
The problem has been aggravated by the lingering effects of the Chernobyl disaster from twenty-five years ago; a large portion of the wild animals are contaminated by radioactivity.
Poisonous radiation leaves the beasts completely inedible (wild boar is considered a delicacy in Germany), and the phenomenon is becoming expensive for the German government. In the last hunting season, 650,000 boar were shot versus 287,000 in the previous year. And due to atomic energy regulations, the government must buy contaminated animals from hunters who catch them.
Berlin compensated hunters to the tune of over $500,000 in 2009, writes German newspaper Der Spiegel -- quadruple the payment in 2007.
Though the Chernobyl explosion happened a quarter century ago, high levels of radiation remain in the region’s vegetation. And wild boars are especially susceptible because of their proclivity for mushrooms and truffles, which are especially efficient at absorbing radiation.
"In the regions where it is particularly problematic, all boar that are shot are checked for radiation," Andreas Leppmann from the German Hunting Federation told the paper. There are 70 measuring stations in Bavaria alone.
While general radioactivity in plants should continue to decrease, levels in fungi may even increase, leaving no end in sight for this issue. One expert told Der Spiegel that the problem will likely remain for at least another 50 years.
Read more at Der Spiegel.
FoxNews.com
Wikimedia
Recently, Germany has reported a surge in the wild boar population. According to one recent study, German wild boar litters have six to eight piglets on average, other countries usually only about four or five.
It sounds like the plot of a B-movie, yet it’s bizarrely true: Radioactive boars are on the loose and thriving in Germany’s forests.
A succession of mild winters has left Germany scrambling to deal with a skyrocketing wild boar population. Tales of swarming beasts rampaging through city streets and attacking citizens occur with alarming regularity.
The problem has been aggravated by the lingering effects of the Chernobyl disaster from twenty-five years ago; a large portion of the wild animals are contaminated by radioactivity.
Poisonous radiation leaves the beasts completely inedible (wild boar is considered a delicacy in Germany), and the phenomenon is becoming expensive for the German government. In the last hunting season, 650,000 boar were shot versus 287,000 in the previous year. And due to atomic energy regulations, the government must buy contaminated animals from hunters who catch them.
Berlin compensated hunters to the tune of over $500,000 in 2009, writes German newspaper Der Spiegel -- quadruple the payment in 2007.
Though the Chernobyl explosion happened a quarter century ago, high levels of radiation remain in the region’s vegetation. And wild boars are especially susceptible because of their proclivity for mushrooms and truffles, which are especially efficient at absorbing radiation.
"In the regions where it is particularly problematic, all boar that are shot are checked for radiation," Andreas Leppmann from the German Hunting Federation told the paper. There are 70 measuring stations in Bavaria alone.
While general radioactivity in plants should continue to decrease, levels in fungi may even increase, leaving no end in sight for this issue. One expert told Der Spiegel that the problem will likely remain for at least another 50 years.
Read more at Der Spiegel.
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