Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:08:42.578Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anomalous 14C Enrichments in the Eastern UK Coastal Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Graham K P Muir ,
Gordon T Cook ,
Angus B MacKenzie ,
Gillian MacKinnon  and
Pauline Gulliver
Graham K P Muir*
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G750QF, UK
Gordon T Cook
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G750QF, UK
Angus B MacKenzie
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G750QF, UK
Gillian MacKinnon
Affiliation:
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G750QF, UK
Pauline Gulliver
Affiliation:
NERC Radiocarbon Facility, SUERC, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, UK
*
2Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During the period from 1995 to 2011, radiocarbon measurements from the coast around Hartlepool in NE England have revealed anomalous enrichments in seawater, sediment, and marine biota. These cannot be explained on the basis of atomic weapons testing or authorized nuclear industry discharges, including those from the nearby advanced gas-cooled reactor. Enhanced 14C-specific activities have also been observed since 2005 in biota during routine monitoring at Hartlepool by the Food Standards Agency, but are reported as “likely” originating from a “nearby non-nuclear source.” Studies undertaken in Hartlepool and Teesmouth during 2005 and 2011 suggest that the 14C discharges are in the vicinity of Greatham Creek, with activity levels in biota analogous to those measured at Sellafield, which discharges TBq activities of 14C per annum. However, if the discharges are into Greatham Creek or even the River Tees, it is proposed that they would be much smaller than those at Sellafield and the high specific activities would be due to much smaller dilution factors. The discharge form of the 14C remains unclear. The activity patterns in biota are similar to those at Sellafield, suggesting that initial inputs are dissolved inorganic carbon (DI14C). However, the mussel/seaweed ratios are more akin to those found around Amersham International, Cardiff, which is known to discharge 14C in an organic form. 14C analysis of a sediment core from Seal Sands demonstrated excess 14C to the base of the core (43–44 cm). 210Pb dating of the core (0–32 cm) produced an accumulation rate of 0.7 g cm−2 yr−1, implying that 14C discharges have occurred from the 1960s until the present day.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , 2015 , pp. 337 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahad, JME, Ganeshram, R, Spencer, RGM, Uher, G, Gulliver, P, Bryant, CL. 2006. Evidence for anthropogenic 14C-enrichment in estuarine waters adjacent to the North Sea. Geophysical Research Letters 33:L08608, doi:10.1029/2006GL025991.Google Scholar
Appleby, PG, Oldfield, F. 1992. Application of lead-210 to sedimentation studies. In: Ivanovich, M, Harmon, RS, editors. Uranium Series Disequilibrium: Applications to Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p 731–78.Google Scholar
Begg, FH, Cook, GT, Baxter, MS, Scott, EM, McCartney, M. 1992. Anthropogenic radiocarbon in the eastern Irish Sea and Scottish coastal waters. Radiocarbon 34(3):704–16.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, Begg, FH, Naysmith, P, Scott, EM, McCartney, M. 1995. Anthropogenic 14C marine geochemistry in the vicinity of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. Radiocarbon 37(2):459–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, GT, MacKenzie, AB, Naysmith, P, Anderson, R. 1998. Natural and anthropogenic 14C in the UK coastal marine environment. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 40(1):89–111.Google Scholar
Cook, GT, MacKenzie, AB, Muir, GKP, Mackie, G, Gulliver, P. 2004. Sellafield-derived anthropogenic 14C in the marine intertidal environment of the NE Irish Sea. Radiocarbon 46(2):877–83.Google Scholar
Davidson, NC, Evans, PR. 1986. The role and potential of man-made and man modified wetlands in the enhancement of the survival of overwintering shore-birds. Colonial Waterbirds 9:176–88.Google Scholar
Freeman, SPHT, Dougans, AB, McHargue, L, Wilcken, KM, Xu, S. 2008. Performance of the new single stage accelerator mass spectrometer at the SUERC. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 266(10):2225–8.Google Scholar
Gillikin, DP, De Ridder, F, Ulens, H, Elskens, M, Keppens, E, Baeyens, W, Dehairs, F. 2005. Assessing the reproducibility and reliability of estuarine bivalve shells (Saxidomus giganteus) for sea surface temperature reconstruction: implications for paleoclimate studies. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 228(1–2):70–85.Google Scholar
Gillikin, DP, Dehairs, F, Lorrain, A, Steenmans, D, Baeyens, W, André, L. 2006. Barium uptake into the shells of the common mussel (Mytilus edulis) and the potential for estuarine paleo-chemistry reconstruction. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70(2):395–407.Google Scholar
Gillikin, DP, Lorrain, A, Meng, L, Dehairs, F. 2007. A large metabolic carbon contribution to the δ13C record in marine aragonitic bivalve shells. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71(12):2936–46.Google Scholar
Gulliver, P, Cook, GT, MacKenzie, AB, Naysmith, P, Anderson, R. 2004. Sources of anthropogenic 14C to the North Sea. Radiocarbon 46(2):869–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lalli, CM, Parsons, TR. 1993. Biological Oceanography: An Introduction. Oxford: Pergamon Press. p 52–79.Google Scholar
MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food). 1994. Radioactivity in the surface and coastal waters of the British Isles, 1993. Aquatic Environment Monitoring Report. No. 42. Lowestoft: MAFF.Google Scholar
MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food). 1995. Radioactivity in the surface and coastal waters of the British Isles, 1994. Aquatic Environment Monitoring Report. No. 45. Lowestoft: MAFF.Google Scholar
McConnaughey, TA, Burdett, J, Whelan, JF, Paull, CK. 1997. Carbon isotopes in biological carbonates: respiration and photosynthesis. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 61(3):611–22.Google Scholar
Mook, WG, van der Plicht, J. 1999. Reporting 14C activities and concentrations. Radiocarbon 41(3):227–39.Google Scholar
Naysmith, P, Cook, GT, Freeman, SPHT, Scott, EM, Anderson, R, Xu, S, Dunbar, E, Muir, GKP, Dougans, A, Wilcken, K, Schnabel, C, Russell, N, Ascough, PL, Maden, C. 2010. 14C AMS measurements at SUERC: improving QA data from the 5MV tandem AMS and 250kV SSAMS. Radiocarbon 52(2–3):263–71.Google Scholar
Plater, AJ, Appleby, PG. 2004. Tidal sedimentation in the Tees estuary during the 20th century: radionuclide and magnetic evidence of pollution and sedimentary response. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 60(2):179–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Public Health England. 2014. Radiological Impact of Routine Discharges from UK Civil Nuclear Licensed Sites during the 2000s. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/radiological-impact-of-routine-discharges-from-uk-civil-nuclear-licensed-sites.Google Scholar
Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE). 1995–2014. Radioactivity in Food and the Environment, Food Standards Agency. RIFE reports 1–19.Google Scholar
Slota, P Jr, Jull, AJT, Linick, TW, Toolin, LJ. 1987. Preparation of small samples for 14C accelerator targets by catalytic reduction of CO. Radiocarbon 29(2):303–6.Google Scholar