Dose due to man-made radionuclides in terrestrial wild foods near Sellafield

Radiological dose implications for consumers of wild foods around Sellafield have been assessed. Habits were surveyed from 72 households, mostly within a few kilometres of Sellafield. A few people were included who lived further away but collect wild foods close to Sellafield. Dose estimates were ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of radiological protection 1998-03, Vol.18 (1), p.3-13
Main Authors: Fulker, M J, Jackson, D, Leonard, D R P, McKay, K, John, C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Animals
Child
Deer
Environmental Monitoring
Food Contamination, Radioactive
Fruit
Honey
Humans
Infant
Meat
Power Plants
Radiation Dosage
Radiation Protection
Radioisotopes
United Kingdom
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Summary:Radiological dose implications for consumers of wild foods around Sellafield have been assessed. Habits were surveyed from 72 households, mostly within a few kilometres of Sellafield. A few people were included who lived further away but collect wild foods close to Sellafield. Dose estimates were based on measured gamma emitters, as well as 239Pu, 241Am, 14C and 129I in selected samples. In all cases, doses were dominated by 137Cs. One infant was identified who consumed wild food, giving an estimated effective dose of 0.3 microSv a(-1). In the age group 2 to 10 years a mean dose of 0.51 microSv a(-1), and a maximum of 2.8 microSv a(-1), were estimated. Intakes by adults were higher and resulted in more radiologically significant doses. The extreme individual received a dose of 32 microSv a(-1) largely due to consumption of honey that included contributions from the Chernobyl accident, and hedgerow fruits. This is comparable to doses to the critical group for consumption of conventional agricultural produce close to the Sellafield site. The 97.5th percentile dose, for all age groups of consumers taken together, was 16.6 microSv a(-1), or 6.2 microSv a(-1) if the contributions from Chernobyl are excluded. Considering the contributions from different foods to the whole group of 181 wild food consumers, the rank order is honey, blackberries and venison.
ISSN:0952-4746
1361-6498
DOI:10.1088/0952-4746/18/1/002