Environmental Monitoring

The Environment Agency (EA) and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)  are responsible under the Environmental Permitting Regulations (England and Wales) 2010 and Radioactive Substances Act 1993 for authorising discharges from nuclear sites in England, Wales and Scotland. In Northern Ireland the Industrial Pollution and Radiochemical Inspectorate (IPRI) monitors the impact of radioactive discharges on the Northern Ireland coastal environment.

IPRI arrange for samples of seaweed, sediment, fish, nephros, and winkles to be collected quarterly and forwarded to the CEFAS Research Laboratory at Lowestoft. The seaweeds are collected in the Ards peninsula and at Portrush; the marine life samples are obtained as far as possible from commercial landings at Kilkeel and Portavogie.

We work together with the EA, SEPA and the Foods Standards Agency on the radiological monitoring of food and the environment and publish the results annually in Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (.PDF 5.76Mb) RIFE report. The latest RIFE report (RIFE - 16 and associated Appendix (.PDF 279kb) and Erratum (.PDF 317kb) is the sixteenth report in the series and brings together the results of radiological monitoring carried out during 2010. The report focuses on key information that demonstrates both that food remains safe and that the levels of radioactivity measured in Northern Ireland are of negligible radiological significance.

In addition to this programme, IPRI monitor the gamma dose rate in air over intertidal sediments in each district council area which has a coastline. The results to date indicate minimal radioactivity deposition and are consistent with normal background levels.