129I/127I ratios in Scottish coastal surface sea water: Geographical and temporal responses to changing emissions

This work constitutes the first survey of I isotope ratios for Scottish sea water including the first data for the west of Scotland. These data are of importance because of the proximity to the world’s second largest emission source of 129I to the sea, the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, because of the increasing importance of the sea to land transfer of 129I and also as input data for dose estimates based on this pathway of 129I. 129I/127I ratios in SW Scotland reached 3 × 10−6 in 2004. No strong variation of I isotope ratios was found from 2003 to 2005 in Scottish sea waters. Iodine isotope ratios increased by about a factor of 6 from 1992 to 2003 in NE Scotland, in agreement with the increase of liquid 129I emissions from Sellafield over that time period. It is demonstrated that 129I/127I ratios agree better than 129I concentrations for samples from similar locations taken in very close temporal proximity, indicating that this ratio is more appropriate to interpret than the radionuclide concentration.