Chernobyl monitoring

In April 1986 I was on a walking trip in Wales when news came through about the Chernobyl nuclear accident. There was a heavy shower and I wondered then how widespread the potential for exposure to radiation might be.   

Large quantities of radioactivity were released into the atmosphere and were carried across Europe. Some of this radioactivity was deposited, during rainfall, over parts of Northern Ireland, and the high ground of Wales, North West England and Scotland.  

Assessments were immediately made of the potential routes this radioactivity could take into the UK food chain.  

Sheep muscle tissue was considered to be the primary cause for concern, so movement restrictions were imposed on sheep farmed in the affected areas and a sheep monitoring programme was instigated.  

Twenty-one years on, the Agency continues to maintain these systems to protect the public from post-Chernobyl contamination; through a combination of routine sheep monitoring, and a continuous programme which assesses the need for continued sheep farming restrictions.  

Today, we are publishing reports of our Cumbrian, Welsh and Scottish De-Restriction Surveys 2006. These surveys were carried out on farms in areas which are still affected by the Chernobyl accident.

I’ve read these reports and found them interesting and informative; I hope you’ll take a look, too, and be reassured that this work continues to protect our food chain.