Reconstructing the history of 14C discharges from Sellafield: Part 1—atmospheric discharges

Abstract

14C specific activities, above ambient background levels, were determined in individual tree-rings (corresponding to the years 1950–1999) sectioned from an oak tree that was felled in autumn 1999, from a location 1.5 km east of the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Cumbria, north-west England. The data were used to produce a new, improved, reconstruction of Sellafield's annual atmospheric 14C discharges between 1951 and 1999, using the most reliable discharge data set (1994–1999) as the primary basis for the determination of a new calibration factor that relates excess 14C activity in individual tree rings to the annual discharge during the corresponding year. The results indicate that the current British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) estimate of total 14C discharges to the atmosphere prior to 1978 is significantly overestimated, while the current estimate of total 14C discharges after 1978 is very similar to that determined in this study. In this study, the total activity of 14C discharged to the atmosphere from Sellafield between 1951 and 1999 is estimated to be 259±63 TBq (at 2 std. dev.). The BNFL current estimate is 360 TBq.