NRPB-W47: Non-technical summary

Non-technical summary

This report is the latest in a series in which the results of the NRPB environmental radioactivity surveillance programme are presented, and contains the basic data for the year 2002. Since the 1970s the NRPB has measured the amount of radioactivity in airborne dust and milk. At the present time, airborne dust is sampled from Glasgow and Guernsey, while milk is sampled from Chilton, Leeds, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey. The sampling sites have been chosen to represent the whole of the United Kingdom. In the past, radioactivity has been detected as a result of the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere and of the nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986. The programme would also be able to detect any other sources of significant widespread contamination in the environment.

Since the beginning of the 1990s the levels of man-made radioactivity in the general environment have fallen markedly and in many cases are now almost undetectable. The results for the year 2002 are similar to those of recent years and continue to show a downward trend. No sources of radioactivity other than weapons testing and the Chernobyl accident were detected.

In addition to the main programme, samples of airborne dust and milk have been collected from separate sites close to the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in west Cumbria. The results are consistent with those reported by the site operator, British Nuclear Fuels plc, and government agencies.

Last reviewed: 1 September 2009