Corporate report

Particles in the Environment Update - Q2 2023

Published 18 September 2023

1. Progress and areas monitored

During the period of the 01 January to the 14 July 2023 a total area of 76 ha of the beaches along the Cumbrian coast were monitored against a programme target of 65 ha.

A total of 59 particles and 2 larger objects (1) were detected, recovered and analysed, details are given in table 1.

The overall target for the 2023 programme is to monitor an area of 105 ha.

Further details of the programme can be found in the annual report series (2).

2. Find rates

Average find rates were compared with find rates over the last 2 calendar years in table 2 and the last 4 years in figure 1. For clarity of presentation, the find rates in table 2 were rounded to the nearest significant figure.

Table 2 and figure 1 shows that Alpha-rich particle³, Beta-rich particle and Beta-rich larger object find rates at Sellafield beach were comparable with the average find rates from the previous years.

Find rates to date in 2023 did not require any form of intervention through the Environment Agency’s Sellafield radioactive objects notification and intervention protocol (4).

3. Find activities

Figure 2 shows the activities of Alpha-rich particles, Beta-rich particles and Beta-rich larger objects were comparable to the activities measured since May 2014 (when the current version of the monitoring equipment was introduced).

None of the finds recovered in 2023 required characterisation through the Environment Agency’s notification and intervention protocol (5).

4. Summary of programme

Table 3 presents a summary of the beach monitoring programme since it started in 2006. Overall, a total of 2764 ha of beaches have been monitored and 3549 particles and larger objects have been recovered and analysed.

5. Conclusion

The Public Health England risk assessment for radioactive particles and larger objects on West Cumbrian beaches reported that

• overall health risks for beach users are very low, and significantly lower than other risks that people accept when using the beaches
• measures to control these risks are not warranted on public health grounds

5.1 Note:

1. Particles are finds < 2 mm in diameter and “larger objects” are finds >= 2mm in diameter (includes: granules, gravel, pebbles, stones etc.)
2. [https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sellafield-ltd-environmental-and-safety-reports[(https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sellafield-ltd-environmental-and-safety-report)
3. Alpha-rich are finds with 241 Am activity greater than 137 Cs activity, “Beta-rich” are finds with 137 Cs activity greater than 241 Am activity and “Co-60 rich” are finds with positive 60 Co activity greater than the 137 Cs activity.
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sellafield-radioactive-objects-notification-and-intervention-plan/sellafield-radioactive-objects-notification-and-intervention-plan

6. Table 1: Beach finds in 2023 (to 14 July 2023)

Beach location	Areas covered (ha)	No. of particles found Alpha-rich	No. of particles found Beta-rich	No. of particles found other	No. of particles found not analysed	No. of larger objects found Alpha-rich	No. of larger objects found Beta-rich	No. of larger particles found other	No. of larger objects found not analysed	Total finds
Allonby	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Northern beaches	21	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18
Sellafield	37	35	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	39
Southern beaches	14	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
All	76	59	2	0	0	0	7	0	0	61

Note 1 - Proportion of particles as % of total finds 100%

7. Table 2 : Find per hectare and area monitored for main beach areas (to 14 July 2023)

Beach location	Year	Area covered (ha)	Find category and type (finds per hectare) alpha-rich particle	Find category and type (finds per hectare) beta-rich particle	Find category and type (finds per hectare) beta-rich larger object	Find category and type (finds per hectare) other finds
Allonby	2021	5	0	0	0	0
	2022	5	0	0	0	0
	2023	5	IA	0	0	0
Northern beaches	2021	36	2	0	0	0
	2022	35	<1	0	0	0
	2023	21	<1	0	0	0
Sellafield	2021	57	<1	<0.1	<0.1	0
	2022	55	<1	<0.1	<1	< 0.1
	2023	37	<1	<0.1	<0.1	0
Southern beaches	2021	24	<0.1	0	0	0
	2022	22	<1	0	0	0
	2023	14	<0.1	0	0	0

7.1 Note 2:

• IA - Insufficient area coverage to estimate finds rates (<10 ha)
• N/A - No monitoring to date
• “<1” denotes values between 0.1 and 0.99
• “<0.1” denotes values between zero and 0.099

8. Table 3: Summary of beach monitoring data since programme began in 2006 (to 14 July 2023)

Beach location	Area (ha)	Total particle	Total larger object	Alpha-rich particle	Alpha-rich larger object	Beta-rich particle	Beta-rich larger object	Co-60 rich particle	Co-60 rich larger object
Allonby	128	21	1	19	0	2	1	0	0
Northern beaches	924	896	0	8291	0	51	0	6	0
Sellafield	1036	1738	729	1397	6	332	721	9	2
Southern beaches	604	137	6	112	0	25	4	0	2
Other beaches	78	19	1	17	0	2	1	0	0
All	2784	2812	737	2385	6	412	727	15	4

8.1 Note:

Northern beaches are St Bees and Braystones, southern beaches are Seascale and Drigg. Allonby and Sellafield are included specifically.

All other beaches (e.g. Whitehaven, Workington, Silecroft etc.) are incorporated into the “other beaches” definition.

A single additional particle (2.8 kBq Am-241; 02/04/2012) was recovered by seabed grab sampling and is not included in the above table.

Figure 1: Find rates of alpha-rich particles (upper), beta-rich particles (middle) and beta-rich larger objects (lower) between 2018 to 2023. Note that find rates in 2023 are for finds to date and not the annual rate.

Note 3: Different scales used for 2023 and Synergy2 datasets.

Figure 2: Radioactivity of finds classified as Alpha-rich particles (top), beta-rich particles (middle) and beta-rich larger objects (bottom) between May 2014 - December 2022 (termed “Synergy2” and shown in blue) compared to data from 2023 (termed “2023” and shown in red).