Back to News

Radioactivity in food and the environment remain well within annual limits

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are one of the authors of ‘Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE)’, which is published annually. The report confirms that no member of the public received a dose in excess of the statutory dose limit of one millisievert (1 mSv) per year from permitted discharges.

RIFE monitors radioactivity levels in food, water and the environment, assessing any potential impact on human health. The findings confirm that radiation doses to the public are well below harmful levels and largely originate from natural sources such as cosmic rays and radon. 

Monitoring confirms that the highest dose for a member of the public in Scotland was approximately 2% of the legal limit 0.021mSv. This compares to a UK average radiation exposure from all sources of 2.7mSv – of which 84% is due to natural background sources.

Radioactivity occurs naturally in the earth’s crust and it can be found in the food we eat, the water we drink and the air we breathe. Exposure to man-made radioactivity includes medical procedures and treatments, and discharges from nuclear and non-nuclear establishments. 

• The average individual dose from medical sources was about 16% of the dose from all sources of radiation.
• Occupational exposure contributed significantly less than 1% of the dose.
• Around 0.2% of the annual dose was from man-made sources - the majority from radionuclides released during historical testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere from the 1950s and 1960.
• Exposure to radionuclides routinely discharged by industry contributing less than 0.01% to the total dose.

SEPA are responsible for radiological monitoring that is carried out in Scotland and has a duty to ensure that no member of the public receives more than the statutory dose limit. Monitoring the environment and the diet of people who live or work near nuclear sites provides reassurance that radioactivity levels remain low.

Professor Paul Dale, Radioactive Substances Unit Manager at SEPA, said:

“Our extensive monitoring programme demonstrates that doses received by the public from man-made radioactivity remain extremely low. The highest dose was 0.021mSv, around 2% of the annual limit. To put this into context, the limit 1mSv is about a third of the average dose people receive annually from natural sources.

“The results continue to demonstrate that SEPA has a robust regulatory oversight and that the impact of discharges from industry remain low. The well-structured monitoring and assessment programme that RIFE illustrates is a strong backstop to a robust process of regulation across the UK, and SEPA play a vital role in that as Scotland’s environment regulator.”

Notes to editors

The annual RIFE report is a joint publication between all six agencies across the UK responsible for ensuring that doses from authorised releases of radioactivity remain within strict international limits. It brings together all results from SEPA, the Environment Agency, Food Standards Agency, Food Standards Scotland, Natural Resources Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.