The transfer of strontium-90 and caesium-137 to milk in a dairy herd grazing near a major nuclear installation.

A field investigation of the transfer of artificially produced radionuclides in the pasture--cow--milk pathway has been made at a farm close to the nuclear fuel reprocessing installation at Sellafield on the north-west coast of England. This paper reports results from analyses of samples collected during 1981, reports transfers coefficients for 90Sr and 137Cs from various types of feed to milk, and discusses factors that affect the transfer of these radionuclides. It is shown that during 1981 a large proportion of the 90Sr and 137Cs consumed by cattle grazing near Sellafield was derived from activity deposited in previous years. Transfer coefficients to milk, Fm, have been derived which are within the ranges of those observed in tracer and fallout studies. There are significant seasonal changes in transfer. For 90Sr, values of Fm between 9 X 10(-4)d 1(-1) and 4 X 10(-3)d 1(-1) have been obtained. It is concluded that this large range arises because daily intakes of 90Sr by the herd during the winter months are lower (by a factor of about 3) than intakes during the summer months and that the concentration of 90Sr in milk is not in equilibrium with intake, that is, the concentration of 90Sr in milk is maintained both by recent intakes and by remobilisation of activity that has been accumulated in bone from earlier intakes. For 137Cs, values of Fm between 3 X 10(-3)d 1(-1) and 9 X 10(-3)d 1(-1) have been obtained. It is concluded that this range most probably occurs because during the summer months, when the cows are grazing, a substantial proportion of the 137Cs intake is associated with soil on the surface of herbage and that, in this form, the 137Cs is less available for uptake from the digestive tract of the cows.