BNFL/Sellafield NEWSLETTER - w/e Thursday 5 March 1998 No 546 Norwegians Reassured on Sellafield Discharges BNFL Chairman John Guiness has written to Environment Minister Michael Meacher to assure him that levels of technetium detected in Norwegian waters pose no threat to health or to the integrity of the marine environment. The letter to Meacher follows representations from the Nordic Council of Ministers registering their concern about the impact of discharges of technetium from Sellafield. Mr Guiness said: "The Nordic Ministers have referred to a report by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority which has determined levels of technetium in Norwegian lobster samples in the region of 11.2 to 42 becquerels per kilogram. "To put these levels into context, the dose from consuming half a kilogram of lobster flesh would be 0.014 microsieverts. Eating seven lobsters would therefore give the same radiological effect as eating a single Brazil nut grown in Brazil. "The UK's National Radiological Protection Board has assessed that Brazil nuts are the most radioactive of foodstuffs in areas where natual radiation is at normal levels. The average yearly intake to a member of the general public from natural radiatio n in Norway is approximately 4000 microsieverts."