Radiation safety

Radioactive Material From European Nuclear Reprocessing Plants Found Near Bermuda

Radioactive material has been traced from nuclear reprocessing plants in the UK and France through the depths of the Arctic and the Atlantic Ocean down to Bermuda.

The contaminant, particularly Iodine-129 (129I), was traced through ocean currents as it made its way from the UK and France toward the tropical waters surrounding Bermuda. The radioactive material has been legally released for the past 50 years from nuclear-reprocessing facilities at Sellafield, UK and La Hague, France.

Now, researchers have been able to trace the pathway of that radioactive material as it makes its way into the North Atlantic Ocean, circling the Arctic Ocean, around Greenland, then eventually south to the waters near Bermuda. Thankfully, the radioactive material presents very little danger and low radioactivity. However, the contaminant is a useful source of tracking ocean water as it makes its complex path through the world's oceans.