Contamination of beach debris following an incident at British Nuclear Fuels plc, Sellafield, November 1983

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Abstract
An incident at the British Nuclear Fuels reprocessing plant at Sellafield in November 1983 resulted in contaminated debris being stranded on Cumbrian beaches. As part of a wider radiological assessment effort, a selection of contaminated items collected from the foreshore has been subjected to detailed examination. The authors describe the radionuclide content of these samples and provides a qualitative picture of the distribution of the radioactivity. Estimates have also been made of the absorbed dose rate which could, potentially, have been delivered to the basal layer of the skin in contact with the debris. The composition of the radionuclide content of the samples has been used to assess the possible origin of the contamination within the context of the incident. Although a combination of high radionuclide content and small source size resulted in high contact dose rates for several of the samples, the low incidence of such items of debris on the beaches, the low probability of their being handled and the times required to accumulate significant total radiation doses make it unlikely that any person has been exposed to the extent of the relevant dose limit. The majority of the samples selected for examination appear to be related to the incident but the contamination of a significant proportion (25%) does not appear to be derived from this source.