Publication Abstract

Artificial radionuclides in the surface sediments of the Irish Sea, 1968-1988

M. McCartney, P.J. Kershaw, D.S. Woodhead and D.C. Denoon

The sediments of the Irish Sea are uniquely labelled with a variety of radionuclides released over several decades by the British Nuclear Fuels reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria. Both the temporal and spatial variations of many of these radionuclides in the surface sediments of the Irish Sea have been determined from a large number of samples collected over the period 1968-1988. The radionuclides considered in this study are 137Cs, 134Cs, 239,240Pu, 238Pu, 241Am, 144Ce, 106Ru, 9SZr + 95Nb and to a lesser extent 243,244Cm, 60Co, 125Sb, 154Eu and 155Eu. The distributions of these radionuclides in the surface sediments of the Irish Sea are described and the implications for our understanding of the system discussed.

Reference:

M. McCartney, P.J. Kershaw, D.S. Woodhead and D.C. Denoon, 1994. Artificial radionuclides in the surface sediments of the Irish Sea, 1968-1988. Science of the Total Environment, 141: 103-138.