Radiocaesium from Sellafield Effluents in Greenland Water

• Published in: Nature
• Main Authors: Aarkrog, Asker, Dahlgaard, Henning, Hallstadius, L., Hansen, H., Holm, E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 1983
• Subjects: East Greenland; Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://orbit.dtu.dk/en/publications/d0167a69-2b1d-49d9-9b43-1d1bbf1bfa2d; https://doi.org/10.1038/304049a0

Since the middle of the 1970s, discharges of radiocaesium to the Irish Sea from the British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Sellafield (formerly Windscale) installation in Cumbria have increased the concentrations of 137Cs and 134Cs in the northern North Atlantic. The authors report that radiocaesium from Sellafield is now detectable in the East Greenland polar current. The transit time from Sellafield is estimated at 6-8 yr. The concentrations in the polar current are approximately one thousandth of those found in the North Channel by the outlet from the Irish Sea