Cumbria Wildlife Trust will be holding a Festival of the Sea on August 6th. Radiation Free Lakeland ask that the public are at least warned by Cumbria Wildlife Trust about radioactive particles on the beaches. These particles could be ingested by children and adults during the sea food foraging and sand sculpture building. The Trust says “You can get creative with sand sculptures, explore the little critters found in rockpools or relax with some chilled yoga and meditation. The festival is a great chance for us to celebrate the amazing wildlife found in the Irish Sea and for foodies, we’ll have some great demonstrations and tasters, showing how we can enjoy cooking and eating seafood in a way that respects the amazing seabed habitats on our coast.” What they don't say is "Caution: Radioactive Particles Are Found On This Beach"
To the CEO of Cumbria Wildlife Trust from Radiation Free Lakeland
Radioactive Beaches
Dear Stephen
We have written to Cumbria Wildlife Trust before on this subject but wanted to alert you to Radiation Free Lakeland's latest citizen science findings regarding radioactive particles on the beaches of West Cumbria.
The recent article in the Guardian paints a very idyllic picture of West Cumbrian beaches. They are beautiful and along with many other artists I have made a living painting the beauty of West Cumbria- but there is a terrible danger here that is ignored at such a great cost to the public's and the biosphere's health. For several years as you know we have been carrying out an ongoing citizen science project collecting samples from West Cumbrian beaches and having them analysed independently. The findings show an unacceptable levels of radioactive particles on West Cumbrian beaches. We have previously asked Cumbria Wildlife Trust not to promote West Cumbrian beaches to families as places to forage for wild seafood - or to spend hours making sandcastles. The response has been that: " Public Health England (PHE) has undertaken a detailed risk assessment of health risks to the public from radioactive objects, including particles, on beaches in the vicinity of the Sellafield site. This confirms that risks to the public from these radioactive objects are very low. PHE has advised that no special precautionary actions are required at this time to limit access to or use of the beaches. However, PHE has also advised that monitoring and retrieval of any radioactive objects should continue. ...As a result of this information and, whilst the beach at St.Bees remains open to the general public, the Trust sees no reason for the planned Beached Art event to be cancelled." Public Health England's radioactive risk criteria looks at the averaged out external risk to reference man. The risk to children playing for hours on the beach and ingesting radioactive particles is very serious as are the risks to unborn children. RECENT SAMPLES Some of our most recent samples have been analysed by ALS Environmental in the US. Sellafield tells the public that the transuranic radioactive wastes washing up on Cumbrian beaches are "historic". It is unacceptable for the public to be encountering any transuranics at all on public beaches let alone being able to find them, as we have, without monitoring equipment amongst the sand castles and ice cream cones. Sellafield has used the excuse that these findings are historic "legacy" wastes. Decades of "historic" reprocessing discharges now being resuspended by the tides and by increasing human activity, from the silts in the Sellafield Mud Patch offshore of West Cumbria. Cs 134 is not "historic" legacy waste Historic resuspension of radioactive wastes is an unacceptable risk for the public - however the latest citizen science findings indicate that the radioactive wastes are far from historic. Cs 134 has been found to be present. Cs-134 has a short half life of only 2 years. It usually appears (at first) in similar amounts as Cs-137, as both are fission wastes. This implies that this Cs-134 was produced in a reactor about eight years ago. Over time, Cs-134 should quickly decay to undetectable levels even as the Cs-137 (half life 30 years) persists. With regard impact on human health cesium-134 (Cs-134) is extremely serious along with cesium-137 (Cs-137) the longer lived isotope which is also present on Cumbrian beaches. In nature, cesium exists only as a non-radioactive (or stable) isotope known as cesium-133 (Cs-133) The analysis from the certified laboratory, ALS Environmental is attached. Marco Kaltofen, President at Boston Chemical Data Corp has been advising on our citizen science project. ALS Environmental is certified by the US Dept. of Energy and the US Dept. of Defense. ALS Environmental laboratory carries out work for the US government and many large nuclear sites. We would urge Cumbria Wildlife Trust if not willing to forgo the family beach events at St Bees - at least to warn families that radioactive wastes continue to wash up on the beaches and that Public Health England have stated the risk is "low" but that this this "low risk" is contested by citizen scientists who say the ongoing risks are unacceptable. We have also written to Tim Farron MP asking that the latest findings and concerns are sent to Public Health England. yours sincerely Marianne Birkby on behalf of Radiation Free Lakeland https://www.lakesagainstnucleardump.com/ https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/ Attached sample results indicating Cs 134
This is the big reason why a deep nuclear dump under the Irish Sea is not scientifically valid - it cannot be monitored because of all the existing radioactive pollution. Any leaks - even while the 'facility' was being loaded with nuclear wastes let alone post closure would be masked.. There would be no way of knowing if it was leaking apart from human health impacts and loss of vitality of biodiversity which as we know the nuclear industry has been getting away with since the very beginning.