Environmental Monitoring for West Cumbria in 2014 John Titley Monitoring, Assessment and New Reactor Permitting Title Slides Your audience needs to know who you are and what you are going to talk about. Give your presentation an opening slide showing the title of your presentation, your name and position or job title. Keep it simple. Your audience is far more likely to be distracted at the start of the presentation, when they are still settling down. Job titles should be kept to a single phrase - ‘Managing Director’ or ‘Events Manager’ - and qualifications used only if they are strictly relevant to your audience or presentation. Your closing slide should mirror the opening one, showing the title of the presentation and any contact details, if those are relevant. You can duplicate blank title slides, either by holding down Ctrl and click-dragging into the desired position in Slide Sorter mode (View - Slide Sorter), or by using Insert - New Slide - Title Slide.

Contents Sellafield’s permitted discharges Permitted disposals of solid wastes to the LLWR Effluents and gaseous check monitoring Solid LLW check monitoring Environmental monitoring in West Cumbria Doses to public in West Cumbria Conclusions Future changes to EA monitoring from 2016

Sellafield’s permit in 2014 No changes to the discharge permit limits Discharges of gases; mists; dusts Gross alpha & beta activities. 13 specified radionuclides. All discharges of radionuclides well below permit limits. Liquid discharges via sea pipe-line. 16 nuclides specified, 2 alpha/beta and 1 for U by mass. Variation in discharges from changes in amount of fuel reprocessed.

Sellafield’s sea pipe discharges (Bq/y) Nuclide Discharge 2013 2014 % of Limit Tritium 1.37E+15 1.35E+15 6.8 Carbon-14 5.53E+12 5.35E+12 25 Cobalt-60 5.07E+10 4.70E+10 1.3 Strontium-90 1.06E+12 1.63E+12 3.6 Technetium-99 1.10E+12 1.27E+12 13 Caesium-137 3.24E+12 2.65E+12 7.8 Plutonium alpha 1.53E+11 1.51E+11 22 (1.0E+12 Bq = 1 TBq)

Sellafield’s atmospheric discharges 2014 (Bq/y) Nuclide Limit Discharge % of Limit Tritium 1.10E+15 9.47E+13 8.6 Carbon-14 3.30E+12 3.40E+11 10 Krypton-85 4.40E+17 5.62E+16 13 Antimony-125 3.00E+10 8.83E+09 29 Plutonium alpha 1.90E+08 1.69E+07 8.9 Americium- 241 1.20E+08 1.28E+07 11 Radon-222 5.00E+11 4.26E+10 8.5 (1.0E+12 Bq = 1 TBq)

Sellafield’s permit in 2015 Changes to the permit 2015 permit variation - liquid discharges new emission point added – Calder Interceptor sewer for very low level effluent new site annual limits - 10% lower than previous sea pipeline limits for total alpha, total beta; tritium *

LLWR permit status in 2014 No change to limits on liquids, gases and solid waste disposal at the site. There were no disposals of solid radioactive waste during 2014 In October 2015 the Environment Agency issued a varied permit allowing the disposal of further radioactive waste at the LLWR

Disposals to LLWR in 2014 (Bq/y) Nuclide LLW Limit LLW Disposal % of Limit Tritium 1.0E+13 Carbon-14 5.0E+10 Cobalt-60 Iodine-129 2.0E+12 Uranium 3.0E+11 Other alpha (1.0E+12 Bq = 1 TBq)

Other sites in West Cumbria Metal Recycling Facility Operated by Studsvik UK Ltd at Lillyhall Industrial Estate. Processes metallic LLW for recycling. Permitted discharges: Liquids - alpha limit = 5E+05; discharge = <1% beta limit = 5E+05; discharge = 2.1% Gases – beta limit = 5E+05; discharge = 3.7% Lillyhall landfill Operated by FCC Environment for landfilling of VLLW No radioactive waste accepted during 2014

Effluent and gaseous discharge check monitoring 2014

Effluent & gaseous discharge check monitoring 2014 Agency checks on radionuclides in discharges & disposals in its check monitoring programme Aerial discharges (bubblers & filters) From Sellafield (Magnox Reprocessing & THORP) Liquid effluents From Sellafield (EARP, SIXEP, SETP, Factory Sewer, Lagoon & Laundry) From Sellafield site boreholes (introduced in 2006). From LLWR (near Drigg)

Sellafield - gaseous monitoring 2014 Overall 2014: 48 analytical comparisons.

Sellafield - liquid effluent monitoring 2014 Overall 2014: 508 analytical comparisons

Sellafield – Boreholes monitoring 2014 Overall 2014: 120 comparisons.

LLWR - liquid effluent monitoring 2014 Overall 2014: 16 analytical comparisons .

Changes to check monitoring of boreholes in 2015 Clarity over groundwater regulation on nuclear sites Regulatory responsibility with ONR (not EA) EA vires to check monitor boreholes now clear We stopped in 2015 We have results for first quarter of 2015

Checking of solid LLW disposals Solid LLW disposals to LLWR from nuclear sites in England and Wales Changes to LLW management and disposal. Aim: Wastes segregated, sorted and treated. Much less material for disposal to LLWR. Fewer ISO consignments of mixed waste. EA checking (assurance) arrangements for LLW. Targeted checking of key waste streams. Reference drum checking Checking found no issues in 2014

Finalisation of checking at Harwell Harwell – check on characterisation of samples of waste (underground drains) being disposed of at the Kingscliffe Landfill in Northamptonshire. We have been accessing the excavated waste as it is removed from the ground, prior to disposal, sampling, analysing, review of RSRL’s approach Our monitoring completed in 2014. Draft report prepared with regulators for comment.

Half height ISO freight from SzwB HHISO from SzwB sent to LLWR We used Cavendish Nuclear’s technique Detect nuclides from the outside of the HHISO using High Resolution Gamma Spectrometry (HRGS) Results interpreted using Cavendish Nuclear Particle Swarm Imaging (PSIM) Initially a blind analysis (phase 1) no prior knowledge of the ISO container or its contents.

Half height ISO freight from SzwB Followed by informed tests (phase 2) Using information declared by the originating site. container weight, contents description, activity assessment (wastestream radionuclide mix) PSIM interpretation refined using this information Phase #1 and phase #2 results for the measured isotopes showed good agreement with the consignor declared activities.

Half height ISO freight from SzwB Phase 2 PSIM image for Co-60 in the phase #1 results highlighted an area of high activity – confirmed by the consignor declared information. The refined PSIM modelling in the phase #2 analysis resulted in a reduction in measurement uncertainty on the activity values (factor of 2)

Reference drum tests Brought back into use 2 x reference drums Content of drums is known to the EA Radionuclides and quantity are known ‘Difficult’ drum and ‘easier’ drum Drums offered to site test equipment Initially 5 sites – Trawsfynydd and Wylfa in Wales during 2014 Sizewell A and Dungeness A; Hartlepool during 2015

Reference drum tests Results: Equipment used by the sites Within 20% to 30% of the known content of the easier drum. Within 60% to 100% of the known content of the more challenging drum.

Environmental Monitoring in 2014. Up to four times per year

Environmental Monitoring in 2014 The Environment Agency is responsible for monitoring non-food parts of the environment. Sediments, water, seaweed, grass, soil, dose rates. Ensuring the dose limit of 1 mSv/y is not exceeded. The Food Standards Agency is responsible for monitoring the food chain. Fish, shellfish, milk, vegetables and meat. Ensuring that doses from foods are assessed. Direct radiation - Office for Nuclear Regulation ONR Results from the 3 organisations are used to assess total dose – compared with dose limit. Up to four times per year

Environmental dose rates 2014 Cumbrian and Lancashire Coastlines Average UK background dose rates silts 0.07 Gy/h sand 0.05 Gy/h Highest annual dose rates (2013 in brackets) River Mite 0.14 Gy/h (0.15Gy/h) Newbiggin viaduct 0.12 Gy/h (0.13 Gy/h) Upper River Calder 0.11 Gy/h (0.10Gy/h) 5 mg probably a bead of resin

W Cumbria Coast - Dose rate trends

Gamma dose rates above mud & salt marshes in NE Irish Sea (Fig 2.23)

Summary - silt concs – Eskmeals Nuclide Silt concentrations Bq/kg Average 2014 (2013) 1998-2013 (98-12) Cobalt-60 27 (29) 4.7 (5.8) Ruthenium-106 71 (75) <7.2 (6.7) Caesium-137 488 (502) 380 (280) Americium-241 1140 (1136) 1600 (1200) Plutonium-239/40 630 (634) 720 (570)

West Cumbria – Eskmeals West Cumbria – Eskmeals. Co-60 levels in sediments (Bq/kg) and discharges (TBq/y)

West Cumbria - Eskmeals Ru-106 levels in Sediments (Bq/kg) and discharges (TBq/y)

West Cumbria - Eskmeals Cs-137 levels in Sediments (Bq/kg) and discharges (TBq/y)

West Cumbria - Eskmeals Am-241 levels in Sediments (Bq/kg) and discharges (TBq/y)

West Cumbria - Eskmeals Pu-239/40 levels in sediments (Bq/kg) and discharges (TBq/y)

Concs of Am-241 & Cs-137 in coastal sediments in the NE Irish Sea (Figure 2.22)

Doses in West Cumbria in 2014

Presentation of doses in RIFE – 20 for 2014 RIFE-20: Presents ‘total dose’ first ‘Total dose’ methodology agreed in 2004 Information on habits around nuclear sites ‘Total dose’ assessments completed at all nuclear sites Doses using other slightly different methods retained (but no longer highlighted at the front of the report)

Summary of non food doses (mSv/y) Group 2012 2013 2014 Recreational user of beaches – North Cumbria 0.010 0.011 0.012 Ravenglass, Estuary marsh user 0.017 Houseboat dweller, Ribble* 0.083 0.071 0.056 Dose limit for public 1

Total dose summary (mSv/y) Group Source 2012 2013 2014 Seafood & external dose, 5 y habits Sellafield 0.14 0.12 0.09 Whitehaven 0.19 0.06 0.13 Total 0.33 0.18 0.22 Total dose method Fish consumers All sources Houseboat dwellers Walney 0.08 Inhabitants & consumers of local food (infants) 0.02 0.01 Dose limit for public 1

Total dose (mSv/y) West Cumbria (local seafood consumers)

Conclusions – 1 Disposals & discharges No changes to permit limits for LLWR or Sellafield. Discharge monitoring – broadly acceptable agreement for liquid and gaseous discharges from Sellafield and from LLWR. Solid LLW checking continued and found no issues

Conclusions – 2 Environment Dose rates - generally unchanged Environmental concentrations – generally unchanged and with similar trends to previous years (e.g. Eskmeals) Residue of higher historic environmental burden from 1970s and 1980s continue to affect levels seen. Results are “noisy” with variation from year to year

Conclusions – 3 Doses Total dose < 1 mSv/y dose limit. Highest doses (0.22 mSv) associated with Sellafield past discharges increased in 2014 v 2013 primarily because of; increase in range of seafoods eaten. an increase in the proportion of lobster in the diet of high rate consumers Representative person is a high rate mollusc consumer near Sellafield (in 2013 houseboat dweller near Barrow) Highest doses associated with past discharges from Whitehaven plant (0.15 mSv) and to a lesser extent Sellafield (0.068 mSv)

EA monitoring programme for 2016 Proposals provided in our report of July 2015 Comments received back from COMARE, Allerdale BC, Sellafield Limited, Food Standards Agency Minor changes made to; Seawater & grass analysis, Sellafield tarn (water not sediment), Raven Villa sediment analysis will remain as now, seaweed method to be agreed (tips/whole plant), grass, soil and terrestrial dose rate locations agreed. Decision document available if requested Programme will commence in January 2016

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