Artificial radionuclides in the coastal zone of Southern Scotland

Concentrations of plutonium and radiocaesium in sediments and soils from the coastal zone of Southern Scotland have been studied over a period of 18 months. The project has two specific objectives, namely: (i) To assess the magnitude of any onshore transfer of artificial radionuclides; and (ii) To study the post-depositional behaviour of artificial radionuclides in intertidal sediments. Vertical profiles of intertidal sediments, beach sands and coastal soils have been collected from the locations shown in Figure 1, with a regular six monthly sampling programme having been established for Skyreburn Bay intertidal sediments. Cores of marine sediment have also been collected from Loch Etive on the west coast of Scotland. It is well established that concentrations of artificial radionuclides in the marine environment around the west coast of the British Isles are dominated by releases from Windscale Nuclear Fuel reprocessing activities. In addition, concentrations around the east coast are increasing in response to temporal variations in the Windscale discharge pattern. Attempts have been made in the present study to relate observed concentrations of artificial radionuclides to either discharges from Windscale or atmospheric fallout from weapons testing