Detection of technetium-99 in Ascophyllum nodosum from around the Welsh coast

The presence of the radionuclide 99Tc in the marine environment is of concern to environmental scientists because of its conservative nature and high concentration factor in commercially valuable species. The brown seaweed Ascophyllum nodosum (Linnaeus) Le Jolis was used to biomonitor the spatial distribution of 99Tc around the Welsh coast, an area relatively unstudied with respect to this isotope. Over the course of a year an inverse relationship was observed between the 99Tc concentration in A. nodosum samples and approximate straight-line distance from Sellafield. These data show that detectable levels of a Sellafield derived radionuclide are reaching the Welsh coast despite the overall northward movement of the Sellafield plume.