How do doses compare to previous years?
In general terms, levels of man-made radionuclides in food have decreased over the past 20 years, reflecting decreases in authorised discharges of radioactivity from the nuclear industry. In 2008 most of the doses to consumers were comparable to previous years but there were some increases in doses. These were mainly due to increases from environmental exposure (direct radiation) and, in a few cases, due to increased concentrations of radionuclide found in fish and shellfish found around Sellafield. The increase in dose around Sellafield in 2008 were from fish and shellfish consumers received up to 620 microsieverts (μSv) from radionuclides discharged into the Irish Sea, whilst in 2007 they received up to 520 microsieverts (μSv). This was mainly due to a small increase in the detected levels of naturally occurring (TENORM) radionuclides (see Q6), resulting from historical discharges. This apparent increase is likely to be indicative of the natural variation in sampling results from yea
