NEW RESEARCH REVEALS SELLAFIELD PIGEONS HEAVILY CONTAMINATED WITH PLUTONIUM - GREENPEACE DEMANDS GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

20 May 1998

CUMBRIA, UK -- New scientific research released by Greenpeace today reveals that pigeons living around BNFL's Sellafield reprocessing plant are severely contaminated with plutonium. The analysis further reveals that the pigeons have become contaminated by recent operations at the plant. This directly refutes BNFL's claim that "the contamination found on pigeons has nothing to do with routine operations or licensed discharges from the site." (1)

"The fact that pigeons have carried plutonium around people's homes and gardens is unbelievable," said Damon Moglen of Greenpeace. "The reprocessing industry has shown a cavalier disregard for its responsibility to contain its dangerous waste."

Today's new data, analysed for Greenpeace by independent nuclear physicist Dr. Gerald Kirchner at the University of Bremen, reveals firstly that there are remarkably high concentrations of highly toxic plutonium in the pigeon feathers - levels up to 20 ,454 becquerels per kilogram of plutonium 239/240.

The pigeon feathers also contain radionuclides with a relatively short half-life; including Cerium-144, Manganese-54, and Ruthenium-106 (2). Dr. Kirchner concludes that this contamination could only come from "relatively fresh emissions" which contradi cts claims by BNFL that the contamination is caused by the birds roosting in buildings which have already been closed down.

Dr. Kirchner also found that the contamination is easily dislodged from the feathers and could therefore very easily be transferred to the public. Greenpeace's previous studies of the birds have already led the UK Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiat ion in the Environment(COMARE) to state that they are "concerned that a hitherto unrecognised route into the environment has come to light" and "seeking to establish its importance both in general terms and in the context of excess childhood leukaemia in Seascale"(3). In March, Greenpeace data showed that the Sellafield pigeons were so contaminated as to classify them as nuclear waste.

"This is a deadly serious business, inhalation of just one speck of plutonium could cause fatal lung cancer," said Moglen. "No one knows what is escaping from the plant, let alone its effects on local people. Action must be taken now to stop all releas es of nuclear waste into the environment."

Greenpeace has written to the UK Environment Agency to demand an urgent reassessment of the public health and environmental impacts of Sellafield. Greenpeace has also repeated its call for Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to "call-in" BNFL's current application for continued and increased discharges of nuclear waste to sea and air.

Prescott will also represent the UK at the July Ministerial Meeting of the OSPAR Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution. The OSPAR Commission, made up of 15 European and Nordic governments, is charged with preventing radioactive and toxic po llution in the North-East Atlantic. Growing concern about radioactive discharges and contamination from Sellafield, and its French equivalent la Hague, has led a number of governments to propose that the July Ministerial meeting consider banning the disch arge of radioactive wastes to sea.(4)

Greenpeace is currently at Sellafield conducting a major scientific investigation into environmental contamination caused by marine discharges of radioactive waste from the nuclear reprocessing plant into the Irish Sea.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Greenpeace Sellafield Office: +44-1946-824-321
Damon Moglen: +31-6-5343-3452
Mike Townsley: +44-441-607-597