Kara Sea radioactivity assessment

Investigations following five international expeditions to the Kara Sea hav e shown that no radiologically significant contamination has occurred outsi de of the dumping sites in Novaya Zemlya bays. Increased levels of radionuc lides in sediment have only been observed in Abrosimov and Stepovoy Bays ve ry close to dumped containers. Evaluations of radionuclide inventories in w ater and sediment of the open Kara Sea and Novaya Zemlya bays as well as so il from the shore of Abrosimov bay have shown that radionuclide contaminati on of the open Kara Sea is mainly due to global fallout, with Smaller contr ibutions from the Sellafield reprocessing plant, the Chernobyl accident run -off from the Ob and Yenisey rivers and local fallout. Computer modelling r esults have shown that maximum annual doses of approximately 1 mSv are expe cted for a hypothetical critical group subsisting on fish caught in the Nov aya Zemlya bays whereas populations living on the mainland can be expected to receive doses at least three orders of magnitude lower. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.