A Report by Greenpeace International

DOUNREAY

This is the third reprocessing facility in Western Europe. Although the operators of Dounreay, UKAEA, like to present it as a 'research' facility (it is even listed as such in the OSPAR submissions made by the UK) amongst other activities, Dounreay commercially reprocesses nuclear fuel, mostly originating from research reactors and containing Highly Enriched Uranium. Figures for discharges in the last 5 years show a significant increase in discharges of Beta emitters and Alpha emitters.

Figure 3: Alpha discharges from Dounreay in recent years Figure 4: Discharges of Beta activity from reprocessing facilities

RADIOLOGICAL IMPACT

The recent increases in discharges from La Hague and Sellafield are particularly important from a radiological point of view since the concerned isotopes are highly effective in their impact on human health. Due to the massive spread of the discharged radioactivity from reprocessing facilities, the impact will not be limited to the areas but can be seen on a major scale from the Western European to the Scadinandinavian countries and even affecting the Arctic waters. To give an example, the I-129 and Tc-99 'signals' originating from La Hague and Sellafield respectively will be of significant importance to the waters off the Norwegian coast in the years to come. Tc-99 discharges from Sellafield were in 1994 by far the largest contributor to the individual dose to critical groups (seafood consumers in Cumbria) with 47% of the dose of 0,06 mSv/y in 1994. The near three fold increase of Tc-99 discharges in 1995 is therefore expected to have an even larger contribution (60%-70%) to these individuals, significantly raising the doses suffered due to the liquid discharges of Sellafield. A similar conclusion can be drawn when the recent trends are considered with respect to the collective dose to the world population. The increase in the discharge of C-14 is largely responsible for the increase in the projected collective dose. Increasing the C-14 discharges will inevitably raise the total radiological burden of the facility considerably. At La Hague the collective doses calculated over the next 500 years to the local and regional population by consumption of seafood and other pathways are dominated by C-14 discharges. Although COGEMA does not provide official data on C-14 releases, it is obvious that the total C-14 activity in liquid releases is also raising significantly with the amount of fuel reprocessed. This increase has a large effect on the collective dose to the regional population. It is justified to conclude that any increase in C-14 discharges is to be avoided. With respect to the projected global collective dose from La Hague, it is remarkable that exactly the isotopes which have shown significant increases in the last few years, I-129, C-14, Kr-85 etc., are the most significant ones. Figure 5 shows the projected increase in collective doses to the global population due to discharges from La Hague.

Figure 5: Projected collective dose (integration time 100.000 y) from La Hague discharges

In the light of the available data on discharges and their expected dose implications it is clear that the radiological impact on human health and the environment of reprocessing is by far the largest of all elements in the nuclear fuel cycle. It is therefore not surprising that the OSPAR Convention area (plus the Baltic) e.g. the North East Atlantic, in which the biggest reprocessing facilities are located, clearly stands out as the ocean area giving the highest collective doses in the world from the consumption of seafood containing man-made radionuclides. These radiological consequences will undoubtedly have their impact on human health. The last few decades a lot of epidemiological research has been conducted on the effects of radiation and it is now scientifically understood that the linear-no-threshold-theory is the only acceptable tool to describe detrimental effects of radiation to human populations. This means that the currently occurring increase in discharges from reprocessing facilities will result in a dramatic increase in radiation induced cancer mortalities and probable environmental impacts. With the current knowledge of radiation risk factors the collective dose due to La Hague's discharges for the year 1995 can be expected to result in more than 170 cancer fatalities. Indications of harmfull radiation effects to local population around the reprocessing facilities are already visible. All three reprocessing facilities - at Dounreay, La Hague and Sellafield - have leukaemia clusters nearby, and the most recent study at La Hague has concluded that there is statistical evidence for a causal link. Moreover the effects of radiation are often evaluated in terms of human health alone and neglect the impact on wildlife and ecosystems. The detrimental effects on the environment are however likely to be far greater than on humans, due to the fact that the environment is directly affected by the discharges. The surroundings of the outlets from reprocessing facilities are for instance submitted to relatively very high doses of radiation and radioactive contamination far beyond levels regarded as 'acceptable'. Ecosystem impacts of radioactive discharges have not been systematically or comprehensively evaluated to-date. Conclusions The reprocessing industry has repeatedly stated that it is effectively reducing its discharges. In fact the opposite is true. Since the beginning of the 1990s the liquid discharges of reprocessing facilities have increased significantly, both in terms of released activity as well as in terms of their radiological impact on human health and potential impacts on marine ecosystems. The increase is in clear contrast with the legal obligation set out in the Paris (1974) and OSPAR (1992) Conventions to "take all possible steps to reduce and eliminate pollution and [to] take the necessary measures to protect the [North East Atlantic] against the adverse effects of human activities so as to safeguard human health and to conserve marine ecosystems" and the recognised "need to reduce radioactive discharges from nuclear installations to the marine environment". These discharges clearly can be avoided by implementing other spent nulcear fuel management strategies. Reprocessing is just one way of managing the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle before trying to find a final disposal option for nuclear waste. Due to its massive discharges into the environment, reprocessing is in direct violation of the IAEA's principle for radioactive waste management. The recent increases in routine liquid discharges from reprocessing facilities are some of the worst possible in terms of the radiological burden on humans and the environment. The increases in discharges and their massive spread through the oceanic currents will result in a dramatic increase in collective and individual doses to large populations worldwide, raising the expected number of cancer fatalities as a result of reprocessing discharges.