Levels of radioactivity in the Baltic Sea continue to decline

Concentrations of the artificial radionuclide Caesium-137 in Baltic Sea fish and surface waters are declining, according to the latest assessment by HELCOM. Radioactivity is now slowly transported from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea via Kattegat. Minor amounts of radioactivity from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in the UK are transported in the opposite direction. Routine discharges of radioactivity from nuclear power plants in the Baltic Sea area are small and only detectable locally.

Overall the levels of radioactivity in the Baltic Sea water, sediments and biota have shown declining trends since the Chernobyl accident in 1986, which caused the most significant fallout over the area. Other important sources of artificial radioactivity are global fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests performed during the late 1950s and early 1960s and discharges from nuclear reprocessing plants in Western Europe, including Sellafield in the UK and La Hague in France. At present the latter sources have become of minor radiological importance, due to the significant reduction of discharges from Sellafield during recent years.

Today, the radioactivity in Baltic fish is clearly below the limit for radioactivity in fish according to EC recommendation.

The maximum annual dose since 1950 to humans frequently consuming Baltic fish and living in close vicinity of the sea (critical group) is below the dose limit for the exposure of the general public set out in the EU Basic Safety Standards.

Follow up:

http://helcom.navigo.fi/environment/indicators2004/C137fish/en_GB/concentrations/

Contacts

HELCOM Secretariat

Mr Juha-Markku Leppänen
Professional Secretary
Tel: +358 9 62202227
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239

Mr Nikolay Vlasov
Information Secretary
Tel: +358 9 6220 2235
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239