A sampling cruise carried out in the North Sea in July 1988 has enabled the construction of general maps showing the distribution of salinity and temperature as well as the activities of the radionuclides 125 Sb, 137 Cs and 134 Cs. An inspection of the raw data and the distribution patterns so obtained shows the important role of meteorological fluctuations in the movement of near-surface waters throughout the North Sea.A simple mixing model is used to interpret the North Sea dataset in terms of four contributory watermasses (the Atlantic, Irish Sea, English Channel and Baltic), each of which can be identified by its specific characteristics. Maps are drawn up which indicate the contribution factor in percentage of each of these water masses at all points in the North Sea to a precision better than 15%. Pt is also possible to extract the contribution of direct fallout resulting from the Chernobyl accident; comparison with previously obtained results allows an evaluation of the rate of renewal of surface waters in the North Sea over a period of two years. In all areas, this value appears to be better than 75%.
COGEMA-La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant in the Cotentin Peninsula (northwest France) releases in the atmosphere about 19 TBq.yr-1 of radiocarbon. Three experiments in a terrestrial environment with sampling of a bio-indicator like furze were performed in 1997, 1998, and 1999, and additional air samples in the chimney plume were measured. Results presented here establish the 14C distribution in the La Hague environment and suggest that a part of the 14C content in the vegetation near the coast results from a 14CO2 degassing of seawater supplied with the liquid waste from the nuclear plant.
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