NRPB - W47 Environmental Radioactivity Surveillance Programme - Results for 2002

Synopsis

A non-technical summary of this report is available.

This report is the latest of a series in which the results of the NRPB environmental radioactivity surveillance programme are presented, and contains the basic data for the year 2002. Within the main programme, samples of airborne dust and milk are collected routinely from selected locations within the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and the activity concentrations of various radionuclides are measured. In general the radionuclides detected result from nuclear weapons tested in the atmosphere in earlier years and from the nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986, although the programme is able to detect any other sources of significant contamination. In addition to the main programme, samples of airborne dust and milk have been collected in the vicinity of the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in west Cumbria.

Last reviewed: 4 August 2009