Radiation in the Irish Sea has come under a new form of scrutiny with the deployment of an experimental buoy that will provide continuous measurements of radioactive contamination.
The project is being jointly overseen and financed by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Environment and Heritage Service of Northern Ireland.
It has a radiation detector that delivers continuous measurements of contamination and is particularly suited to caesium137 measurement according to the RPII.
The Institute was "delighted" to be involved with the project according to its deputy chief executive, Mr John Cunningham, "particularly as it involves the development of a new instrument that can be used in the surveillance of radioactive contamination of the marine environment".
The highly sophisticated buoy was developed and constructed by a Norwegian company, Oceanor, in conjunction with the IAEA's Marine Environment Laboratory. The RPII and the Northern Environment and Heritage Service provided project planning.
The device not only detects radioactivity in sea water, but also the speed of local currents, temperature and salinity. It transmits the data it collects via satellite to the IAEA's labs in Monaco. From there it is relayed to the Institute's labs in Dublin.
This pilot project will run for 12 months. Data collected by the buoy will provide data on the circulation of caesium-137 in the north western Irish Sea and the Institute plans to analyse seawater samples to supplement the buoy measurements.
"This project will provide very useful data on radioactivity in the northwestern Irish Sea and these will complement the RPII's ongoing marine monitoring programme," Mr Cunningham said.
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