Cesium 137 in rain in the Faroes, Norway and Denmark/Sweden.
There are on-going studies of contamination caused by the man-made radioactive nuclides cesium-137 and strontium-90 in the Faroese environment both on land and at sea. Technetium-99 is also included in the marine studies as a potential isotope originating from the Sellafield plant. The anthropogenic radionuclides in the terrestrial environment stem from nuclear weapons tests, particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as the Chernobyl nuclear accident on April 26, 1986. It is mainly rainfall, which has spread these contaminants to the Faroese environment. Research shows that the areas with the heaviest rainfall are the most contaminated. In recent years, particular emphasis has been on studying how these radionuclieds enter sheep’s food chain and therefore accumulate in the Faroese population, who consumes large quantities of lamb meat. However, there are also measurements dating back to the early 1960s, including different foodstuffs. Work is underway to gather and analyse these longterm measurements. Preliminary results indicate that the Faroes are more vulnerable to radioactive contamination than many other countries. Certain characteristics of the Faroese environment cause a larger proportion of cesium-137 and strontium-90 to enter locally produced foodstuffs and thereby to accumulate in the population.
Further discussions about the studies in the Faroese environment are available here. Written material about the studies is availablehere. A lecture on the television programme "Speki" aired by the Faroese broadcaster Sjónvarp Føroya can be viewed here. The PowerPoint presentation from the lecture is available here.
This research is undertaken in cooperation with international partners. Our research partners include NKS (Nordic Nuclear Safety Research) and AMAP (Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme). The Faculty of Science and Technology also cooperates with theDTU-Risø laboratory in Denmark on longterm measurements of radioactive contamination in the Faroese environment. Other institutions also participate.
