Environment Agency, Welsh Region, Northern Area Office, Ffordd Penlan, Parc Menai, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 4DE, UK.
Sci Total Environ. 2010 May 15;408(12):2567-75. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.02.035. Epub 2010 Mar 23.
There has been a decline in the population of some bird species at Morecambe Bay and the Solway Firth Special Protected Areas in North-West England during the last fifty years. It was suggested that the declines were caused, in part, by contaminants in the food and environment, primarily from the radioactive effluent discharge from the Sellafield Ltd nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria. This study analysed bird feathers and tissues, vegetation and sediment for radionuclides, metals and persistent organic compounds. The non-radionuclide results were all low compared to relevant action limits. The ERICA model was used with field data to estimate the radiological dose to birds from exposure to (137)Cs and (241)Am with results between 1.26 to 3.83 microGy h(-1), below the ERICA screening level of 10 microGy h(-1) and within the IAEA 40 microGy h(-1) guideline value below which potential adverse impacts on biota are unlikely. The study showed no link between bird population decline and anthropogenic discharges to the SPAs.
在过去的五十年里，英格兰西北部的莫克姆湾和索尔韦湾特别保护区的一些鸟类物种数量有所下降。有人认为，下降的部分原因是食物和环境中的污染物造成的，主要来自坎布里亚郡塞拉菲尔德有限公司核燃料后处理厂的放射性废水排放。本研究分析了鸟类的羽毛和组织、植被和沉积物中的放射性核素、金属和持久性有机化合物。与相关行动限值相比，非放射性核素结果均较低。该研究使用 ERICA 模型和现场数据来估计鸟类因接触 (137)Cs 和 (241)Am 而受到的辐射剂量，结果在 1.26 至 3.83 微Gy h(-1)之间，低于 ERICA 筛选水平 10 微Gy h(-1)，也低于国际原子能机构 40 微Gy h(-1)的指导值，在该值以下，生物群不太可能受到不利影响。研究表明，鸟类数量下降与 SPAs 人为排放之间没有联系。
