Fears from local residents of Seascale (near the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant) that local pigeons were radioactive because they roosted at the plant were confirmed. British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) culled and then tested 152 birds and found significant levels of radiation in all of them. The RSPCA inspector who conducted the cull was also tested and declared safe.

The high levels of caesium-137 in the pigeons automatically classified them as nuclear waste. Part of the drive and garden of a nearby pigeon sanctuary, which housed 700 birds, was also found to be highly contaminated and classified as nuclear waste. The villagers are concerned that radioactive pigeon droppings could easily be handled by children, exposing them to radiation.

Further to our report on radioactive pigeons and pigeon droppings in Seascale, near the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, it now turns out that a couple whose appetising bird tables attracted up to 700 pigeons on occasion had become mildly radioactive themselves. Their garden soil contained levels of plutonium and caesium up to 800 times higher than in other gardens in the village.

In February 1999 the Ministry warned people within 16 miles of Sellafield not to touch, eat or kill pigeons. In a rare moment of altruism, British Nuclear Fuels has now resurfaced the couple’s drive, relaid their lawn, hosed down their garage roof and replaced their bird feeders and garden gnomes. They also strangled 1500 pigeons and patched up all Sellafield’s old outbuildings to keep the birds out.

This is not a one-off. At Hanford, a US Government plutonium production plant near Richland, Washington, radioactive mice faeces were discovered in the plant and in the workers’ canteen. Radioactive specks were found on leftover food, waste bins, and in places outside areas controlled for radiation. The problem was eventually traced to fruit flies. Attracted by a new sugar-based sealant which had been sprayed on contaminated surfaces to prevent radioactivity escaping, the flies, apparently, fed on the sugar and laid eggs in the sealant. When they landed on rubbish and discarded food, they left behind radioactivity which was later transferred to the City of Richland rubbish tip. In October 1998 Hanford had to excavate the tip, and bring back and bury on its site 191 tonnes of municipal rubbish as low level radioactive waste.

A final example. Four stray cats born at a nuclear power station in San Diego (California) were found to be contaminated.