Tests by Southampton University have found traces of radioactive waste from the controversial Sellafield plant in Scottish farmed salmon sold in British supermarkets, Sainsburys, Safeway's and Marks and Spencer. The revelation comes as Britain is due to face fierce criticism this week (23rd-27th June) at an international meeting of environment ministers in Germany for failing to tackle nuclear pollution from Sellafield.
The levels found in the study, which was commissioned by Greenpeace, are relatively low and pose no immediate risk to human health. However, despite promises by John Prescott to Europe in 1998 to reduce radioactive pollution from Sellafield, discharges have increased and are set to double over the next few years. This will mean increased levels of nuclear contamination in the food chain. High levels have already been found in lobsters and other shellfish.
Four of seven supermarket samples surveyed showed detectable levels of technetium-99, the majority of which is a by-product of reprocessing nuclear waste from BNFL's ageing Magnox reactors. Britain's five operating Magnox reactors are all due to close by 2010 and supply just 5% of Britain's electricity. Technetium-99 has a radioactive half-life of 210,000 years. Its discovery in food is likely to mean other radioactive isotopes from Sellafield are also present
Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Jean McSorley said
"The tests Greenpeace commissioned show that nuclear pollution from Sellafield is contaminating Scottish farmed salmon. The levels we found now are low but this is a real warning sign that if the government does not take action radioactive pollution in salmon and other foods will increase."
"Britain's five oldest nuclear reactors must be shut down now. It is fuel from these plants that cause most of Sellafield' s pollution. We don't need the electricity these reactors produce and we don't want their radioactive pollution in our seas and in our food."
In what will be his first international meeting since his appointment as Environment Minister Elliot Morley is to join ministers from fourteen countries and the EC meeting under the OSPAR convention (1) in Bremen, Germany, to discuss marine pollution in the north east Atlantic and North Sea. This is the first time ministers have met under OSPAR since the historic meeting in Sintra, Portugal, in 1998 which set ground-breaking commitments for action on radioactive discharges. At the time this was hailed as a great step forward for the environment and John Prescott famously declared, "I was ashamed of Britain's record in the past but now we have shed the tag of the Dirty Man of Europe and have joined the family of nations."
Notes
1. OSPAR Convention deals with marine pollution, in the North East Atlantic and North Sea. Member states are; Belgium, Denmark, Finland France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the European Commission.
2. Click here for more information on sample results (PDF format).
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