12.5 UKAEA scientists have also produced a report relating to the amount of Plutoniumfound in children’s teeth - up to 5 mBq/kg.(19)

12.6 The School of Health, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Middlesex Universityare currently measuring the amount of Plutonium excreted by North London schoolchildren(about 1 microBq/day).(19A)

12.7 However in a recent paper it has been suggested that urinalysis makes estimatingthe systemic plutonium burden problematic. It also states that insoluble particles notexhaled or removed by clearance processes will become trapped in the lungs or will beingested by macrophages, eventually passing to the respiratory lymph nodes. Likewise,those entering via a wound will either become isolated in fibrotic material or, again, bemoved by macrophages to the local lymph nodes. Insoluble plutonium can remain in the lymphnodes for many years. It also states that 3% of the total skeletal plutonium was presentin the bone marrow.(19B)

12.8 In another paper it is stated that in an occupationally exposed worker the totalbody burden of Plutonium was distributed as follows:52.8% was found in the lungs andassociated lymph nodes. The remaining 47.2% was mostly in the skeleton (44%), the liver(42%), with the remainder (14%) in the rest of the body.(19C)

12.9 A further paper looked at the total distribution of 239/240 Pu in a radiationworker’s whole body tissue. The total body content was 246 Bq approximately equallydivided between the respiratory tract and the remainder of the body. Concentrations weregreatest in the lungs and associated lymph nodes. The tracheobronchial lymph nodescontained approximately 17.5% of the total Pu and the concentration in the lymph nodes was25-fold greater than the concentration in the remainder of the lungs and two to fourorders of magnitude greater than found in all other tissues(data). The systemic deposition hadequal amounts in the liver and skeleton (41.8% and 42.9% respectively), with approximately10% in the muscles and skin. About 1.2% of the systemic deposition was found in thespleen. Certain tissues showed elevated concentrations of Pu, including gall bladder,prostate, and pituitary. The pituitary showed a high concentration in relation to itssmall size which would deliver a dose in the order of that delivered to bone or liver andhence could be of importance from a protection standpoint.(19D)

12.10 Another paper has found that approximately 3% of the total skeletal plutonium isestimated to be resident in the marrow, with the concentration in the red marrow severaltimes greater than the concentration in the yellow marrow.(19E)

12.11 Given that there is incontrovertible evidence that everyone has a body burden ofPlutonium distributed throughout their body it is particularly worrying to know that thereare studies which indicated that cells that are not traversed by an alpha particle but arewithin an alpha-particle radiation field and therefore are in the presence of heavilydamaged cells display enhanced frequencies of sister chromatid exchanges and enhancedexpression of p53.(19F,G,H, I)

13 AWE scientists admit to up to 26 Bq/kg of Plutonium in soil on the Aldermaston sitebut do not put these figures in their Annual Reports.They only put figures for totalalphas. These figures were published in the Southampton University Greenham Survey. AWEclaimed in a recent note to the local liaison Committee that the levels found on site ofapprox. 20 Bq/kg are consistent with background levels! Background levels:0.02-0.7Bq/kg.

14 AWE scientists produced a report of a survey carried out to decontaminate landadjacent to Aldermaston and found up to 15,000 Bq/kg of Plutonium in silt. This report waspresented during a High Court Case brought against the MOD by Blue Circle Cement who ownedAldermaston Court. The site has been partially decontaminated and over £5M compensationpaid to BCC. The figures in this report are not put in the public domain.(20)

15 In 1998 American, Danish and Russian scientists measured levels of Plutoniumcontamination near Russian nuclear test sites and sites where accidents had occurred. Theyfound lower levels than those found around most of our nuclear sites, apart from theepicentre of the bomb explosions i.e. between 0.17 and 0.60 Bq/kg near site of nuclearexplosions, 1,359 Bq/kg 1.1 Km from Ground Zero and 27,900 Bq/kg at the epicentre.(21)

16 Despite the ever rising levels of Plutonium in our environment from bomb fall-out,satellite re-entry accidents, nuclear accidents and permitted discharges, and the growingevidence of the adverse effects of minute particles of plutonium in the body tissue, NRPBhave issued new permitted levels of Plutonium in our environment which are between 3 and 5times more than their previous Generalised Derived Limits. This seems to have been done toaccount for the rising levels being admitted to in publicly available data by theEnvironment Agency, MAFF, Southampton University and the nuclear operators.

17 The monitoring data presented by the Environment Agency, MAFF, SouthamptonUniversity and nuclear site operators does not include the very high levels monitored andpresented in reports not readily available to the Public thus presenting a very unreliableand distorted record not just to the Public but also to Local Councils, GovernmentMinisters, Department of Health and Local Health Authorities. Information given to COMAREhas always excluded this data.

18 The levels of Plutonium monitored around nuclear sites is up to 302,857 times meanbomb fallout levels in soil and silt and up to 3,260 times mean bomb fallout levels inair. Despite this fact AWE Aldermaston, UKAEA and BNFL claim their discharges are lessthan natural background, giving a dose rate of the equivalent of a 10 hour visit toCornwall, or a 10 hour air flight or eating brazil nuts! This is total rubbish as there ispractically no exposure to Plutonium in Cornwall, on an aircraft or in brazil nuts andcasts very serious doubts on the nuclear industry’s credibility. These bogus claimsare backed up by the NRPB, the Environment Agency, MAFF and Southampton University!

19 According to Southampton University a 10 hour visit to Cornwall gives a gamma doseof up to 130 nG/hr from the natural background radiation. The dose rates received on theUKAEA Harwell site are greater than 195 nG/hr with levels in 1989 and 1990 of 600 nGy/hrwhich is 4.5 times the highest natural background dose in the UK and is 24 times thenatural background for the local geology. The figure given by NRPB for natural backgrounddose rates for the chalk/clay geology of the area around Aldermaston and Harwell is up to26nG/hr. The NRPB figure given to Parliament on 20 June 1985 for gamma radiation dose atHarwell was 21 nG/hr but the grid reference was on the Ridgeway at East Ginge! However theaverage background dose both on and off the Harwell site is 80 nG/hr with levels <130nG/hr on a sportsfield, housing site and Chilton School. These differences in dose-ratesmakes it difficult to understand how the industry can claim that their discharges are lessthan background! (21A) (21B)

19.1 Harwell scientists also found out in the early 1950’s that the effects of theradioactive discharges from the BEPO pile at Harwell produced 1 1/2 times normalbackground radiation levels at a distance of 7 miles, 3 times background levels directlydownwind and during temperature inversion 15 times background. (22) It seems that nuclearscientists were more honest about the effects of radioactive discharges in the early daysthan they are now!

20 The alpha-particle energies from radon and thoron daughters are above 6.0 MeV, andthe particles are about unit density. The half life of the radon daughters is 50 mins andthoron daughters 10.6 hours. The half-life of Plutonium is 2.43 x 10^4 with alpha-particleenergies of 5.15 MeV of high density. The other problem is self-absorption which isspecific to alpha-active and low energy beta-active particles. If a particle isappreciably of larger diameter than 11 microns then alpha-radiation will be absorbedwithin the particle, and the activity will be under-estimated. This may be of significancedepending on the behaviour of the particle in the lung, gut or other organs of the body.Radon was considered benign against the dangerous effects of Plutonium.(23) The rate ofall cancers in Cornwall is the lowest in the UK apart from skin cancers,(24) although ithas the highest levels of Radon! However it also has the lowest levels of Plutonium.

Conversely workers on nuclear sites and the general population living around thesesites have higher rates of all cancers, including leukaemias than the national rate.Levels of Plutonium on and around these sites is also up to thousands of times higher thanCornwall or other areas of the UK remote from nuclear sites but also have very low levelsof Radon!

21 Despite the fact that there is growing evidence of the effects of Plutoniumparticles on the genomic instability of cells and despite the fact that there are elevatedlevels of leukaemias and other cancers around Dounreay, Sellafield, Aldermaston, Harwelland along the Welsh Coast, the Irish Coast, along the Severn Estuary and along the SouthCoast successive COMARE studies have stated that the levels of discharges cannot be thecause of these cancers and that the results are either chance findings or caused by otheragents, unknown viruses or even population mixing!

22 Despite the existing pollution from bomb-fallout, permitted discharges and accidentsthe situation will become much worse in the near future when more reprocessing takes placeand when MOX fuel is fabricated and then used in reactors.

22.1 Stocks of plutonium held by BNFL at 31 March 1997 amounted to 96.5 tonnes. This issplit down as follows: Magnox Electric 47.5t, British Energy 11.5t, UKAEA 1.5t, BNFL andoverseas customers 36t. Of this 41t is spent fuel in storage ponds, 2t in intermediateforms, 53.5t as plutonium oxide in store. This stock will rise during th Magnox lifecycles with an estimate of 78t by the end of the Magnox programme. British energyestimates that 25t will be created by reprocessing of AGR fuel by 2010. The total UKstockpile of separated plutonium is predicted to reach over 100t by 2010.

22.2 The global total quantity of plutonium, in all forms, was about 1239t (1997) andthe OECD Nuclear Energy Agency estimates that 50t of plutonium is generated world-wideevery year in spent fuel.

22.3 The stock of military grade plutonium in the UK has never been revealed but thebest estimate is between 5 - 11t. World-wide some 250t of military plutonium are held,about a 5th of the total plutonium inventory. (25)

22.4 Future stocks from commercial nuclear fuel are estimated to be 1,500t by the endof 2003 and 2,000t by the year 2009. Much of the Plutonium is and will be manufactured into MOX fuel to be used to fuel light-water reactors (LWRs) and plutonium recycling is alsopossible in most pressurised water reactors (PWRs) or boiling water reactors (BWRs.) (26)

23 The implementation of the EURATOM Directive 96/29 will lead to even greater exposureof all radionuclides including Plutonium. The Exemption Values for Plutonium 239 are atpresent 400 Bq/kg (concentration), the proposed new concentration will be 1,000 Bq/kg. Anexample of the Exemption Values for Plutonium in recyled aluminium would be 100,000,000Bq/t with doses calculated for loader, truck driver, processor, worker, operator, caster,sheet worker, siding, automobile and frying pan made out of contaminated metal. Similarlevels will be allowed in recycled concrete and steel and with doses calculated forloader, truck driver, processor worker, construction worker, parking lot and inhabitant ofnew room! Exposure figures have been calculated for building renovation, using tools andequipment and people living downwind of factories and smelting works! The driving forcebehind the EURATOM Directive is to save the nuclear industry and Governments a great dealof money by reduced decontamination procedures.(27)

24 On a personal level I have lived for 30 years within 3 1/2 miles of Harwell and alsoworked at Harwell for 23 years as a non-occupationally exposed employee not issued with afilm badge. I have paid for a urine sample to be analysed by Prof. Nick Priest, Professorof Toxicology, The School of Health, Biological and Environmental Sciences, MiddlesexUniversity and the result is:

Mass of Plutonium 239 present in 2 litres of urine = 0.000842pg

Plutonium 239 activity present in urine = 1.84 microBq

I have also commissioned Southampton University to monitor my home and garden forPlutonium contamination and the results are:

Blewbury, Oxon, Bq/kg dry weight	Plutonium 238	Plutonium 239+240
House dust	<0.02	0.08 ± 0.02
Loft dust	0.02 ± 0.01	0.34 ± 0.05
Soil turf + 0-2 cm	0.06 ± 0.06	0.40 ± 0.16
Soil 2-5 cm	0.09 ± 0.08	0.39 ± 0.16
Soil 5-8 cm	0.05 ± 0.04	0.36 ± 0.10

25 To conclude I wish to state that there is too much Plutonium in our environment,especially on and around nuclear sites (see Table 1) and that the claims that thedischarges are less than background and cause no harm are ingenuous. This Plutonium isbuilding up in body tissue and the food chain with disastrous results.

Wendy MacLeod-Gilford

31 December 1998 (amended and additions to table 1 and references 24 January 1999

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TABLE 1

Location	Pu
Bomb fall-out in Northern Hemisphere in soil and silt	0.02 - 0.7 Bq/kg (28)
Bomb fall-out in Northern Hemisphere in air	5 nBq/m3
Semipalatinsk-21 Russia 1.1km from Ground Zero	1,295 - 1,359 Bq/kg
Semipalatinsk-21 Russia epicentre	27,900 Bq/kg
Akzhar (village nearby)	0.47 -1.3 Bq/kg
Kainar	0.17 - 0.28 Bq/kg
Aldermaston Court Lake silt	15,000 Bq/kg
AWE Aldermaston/Burghfield	26 Bq/kg
AWE Aldermaston/Burghfield in air	1,403 nB/m3
AWE pipeline River Thames Pangbourne in silt	5,460 Bq/kg
Area between Harwell and Aldermaston	up to 10.5 Bq/kg
UKAEA Harwell, Southern Storage Site, next to School	107 (29) Bq/kg
UKAEA Harwell, Southern Storage Site in air	16,300 nB/m3
UKAEA, Sutton Courtenay, River Thames sediment	523 Bq/kg
UKAEA, East Hendred,Lydebank Brook sediment	115.3 Bq/kg
BNFL Ravenglass Estuary, grass mat + soil	106,000 Bq/kg (30)
BNFL Ravenglass Estuary, sheep liver	9.3 Bq/kg (30)
BNFL Ravenglass Estuary, cattle liver	0.55 Bq/kg (30)
BNFL Sellafield, soil	0.9 - 11 Bq/kg (30)
BNFL Sellafield, leafy vegetables	0.36 Bq/kg (30)
BNFL Newbiggin silt	Pu241 159,000 Bq/kg (31)
BNFL Newbiggin silt	Pu239/240 5,500 Bq/kg (31)
BNFL Ehen Spit sand	3,050 Bq/kg
FL Drigg stream sediment	1,400 Bq/kg
South Coast Goatshead Peninsular Pool Harbour	9 Bq/kg
Welsh Coast Kinmel Bay - suspended sediment	224 Bq/kg
Welsh Coast Kinmel Bay - filtered seawater	3.3 mBq/l
Welsh Coast Kinmel Bay - air	680 nBq/m3
Trawsfyndd hot lagoon - mud	2,115 Bq/kg
Trawsfyndd hot lagoon - lake top	382.61 Bq/kg
Dounreay, Oigins Geo sludge	850.0 Bq/kg
North Welsh Coast, Lavan Sands	Pu238 2.15kBq/m2(32)
North Welsh Coast, Lavan Sands	Pu239+240 12.4 kBq/m2 (32)
Milford Haven (remote monitoring site) rain 1987	25 microBq/l (33)
S W Scotland, River Nith tide washed pastures Pu238	3,800 Bq/m2 (34)
S W Scotland, River Nith tide washed pastures Pu239+240	22.000 Bq/m2 (34)
S W Scotland, River Err - Pu238	9,500 Bq/m2 (34)
S W Scotland, River Err - Pu239+240	55,000 Bq/m2 (34)
S W Scotland, River - Dee Pu238	5,500 Bq/m2 (34)
S W Scotland, River - Dee Pu239+240	32,000 Bq/m2 (34)
S W Scotland, River - Cree Pu238	5,700 Bq/m2 (34)
S W Scotland, River - Cree Pu239+240	31,000 Bq/m2 (34)

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