Levels of radioactivity in the UK from the accident at Chernobyl, USSR

An accident at the nuclear power station in Chernobyl, near Kiev, USSR on 26 April 1986 caused substantial quantities of radioactive material to be released into the atmosphere. Winds transported some of the material towards northern and western Europe. Radioactivity from Chernobyl was detected in the United Kingdom, 2000 km away, almost a week later on 2 May. Government Departments, the National Radiological Protection Board, and the operators of nuclear installations had anticipated this eventuality and from 28 April intensified their normal programmes of environmental monitoring. DOE established a Technical Information Centre in the Incident Control Room at the Marsham Street Headquarters, which was manned by representatives of DTp, MAFF, DHSS, NRPB with DOE taking the lead and providing administrative support. Close links were maintained with other operational centres including those in the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Offices. Ten bulletins were issued by the Centre and two collations of monitoring data were prepared and made available to the public. These monitoring data had been compiled by the National Radiological Protection Board and are subsumed in this document. Monitoring of environmental materials is continuing as necessary. For example, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has a programme for measuring radioactivity in a wide range of foodstuffs; it has already published results and intends to publish more