New Greenpeace sampling results reveal a dramatic increase in radioactive contamination off the west coast of Scotland, from the Sellafield reprocessing plant on the Cumbrian coast.

Analysis of seaweed samples by taken by Greenpeace in May 1998 show that levels of technicium-99 (Tc-99) from reprocessing at Sellafield are continuing to increase and are spreading along the Scottish coast. Contamination levels in seaweed taken from the Isle of Whithorm in Galloway, for example, have more than tripled in a year, reaching a staggering 6,520Bq/kg. In addition, high levels of Tc-99 were found at Girvan, on the Ayrshire coast.

"Such massive increases in radioactive contamination fly in the face of public opinion both internationally and within Scotland," said Mike Townsley of Greenpeace. "In just two weeks time, environment ministers from 15 countries meet to discuss marine pollution and, in particular, a ban on nuclear discharges. It is unacceptable that British Nuclear Fuels is being permitted by the UK Government to ignore the international consensus to stop the sea being used as a radioactive sewer."

"Reprocessing is a dirty, dangerous and outdated practice. The people of Scotland receive no benefit from BNFL's activities at Sellafield yet, along with the people of Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark they are being subjected, against their will, to its radioactive pollution. It's threatening the health and well being of both current and future generations," said Townsley.

Ocean currents carry radioactive pollution from the reprocessing plant in Cumbria northwards along the Scottish coast, through the Irish Sea, on to the North Sea and across into the Baltic, Norwegian, Barents and Greenland Seas.

Rapidly rising levels of Tc-99, which has a half-life of 213,000 years, have also been detected on the coasts of Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Such is the level of international concern that the Irish Government has described Sellafield's discharges as "objectionable" and "totally unacceptable", while the Nordic Council of Environment Ministers has written to the UK Environment Minister, Michael Meacher, asking for an end to Tc-99 discharges.

On Monday (6th July 1998), the Norwegian Prime Minister, Kjell Bondevik, met with the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to demand the closure of Sellafield and Dounreay. After the meeting, Mr Bondevik said it was his impression that Tony Blair was willing to help reduce radioactive discharges.

The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott and Michael Meacher, will attend a Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Commission in Portugal later this month which will consider a ban on radioactive discharges from the Sellafield, Dounreay and La Hague reprocessing plants. The Commission, which includes Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and other countries from the North-East Atlantic region, is charged with preventing radioactive and toxic pollution of the marine environment.

John Prescott is currently faced with another key decision relating to the future of radioactive discharges from Sellafield. He is considering a new authorisation for Sellafield discharges which, if permitted, will see some 30 billion litres of nuclear waste pumped into the sea over the next decade.

Greenpeace is calling on the UK Government to deny British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) a new discharge authorisation and join their European partners and other OSPAR nations in enacting a ban on radioactive discharges to the sea.

"If Britain is ever to loose the tag of 'the dirty man of Europe', the Government must act now to stop radioactive discharges from reprocessing," said Townsley.

Notes:

1. The samples were analysed for Greenpeace by the University of Southampton 2. While public concern forced a decrease in radioactive discharges from Sellafield in the 1980s, the British Government subsequently reopened the flood gates in preparation for the opening of BNFL's giant new reprocessing facility - the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant. In 1993, UK authorities approved 900% and 1,100% increases in the site's liquid and gaseous discharges respectively. 3. The Dumping at sea (from ships) of radioactive waste was banned world-wide in 1993 by the 75 member states of the United Nations' London Convention - but Britain and France continue to discharge radioactivity from shore based installations. Paradoxically, while liquid reprocessing wastes cannot be dumped from ships, the same waste can be pumped directly into the sea via discharge pipeline. Sellafield discharges around 9 million litres of radioactive waste daily. 4. The OSPAR Ministerial Meeting will also decide whether: to ban the dumping of decommissioned offshore oil and gas installations at sea; and to phase out, by 2020, the disposal of toxic wastes into air and water. 5. Results of all of its sampling work extending from Sellafield to Islay later in the year.

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