Cardiff has been called, ‘Tritium City’ by Friends of the Earth because of the high levels of tritium and other radioactive isotopes discharged into the environment by Nycomed Amersham plc Cardiff site. This nuclear site is in North Cardiff, a highly populated city. Apart from discharging to the air and sewers, NA have a radioactive store on the flood plains of the river Taff, which runs through Cardiff to the Severn Estuary. Tritium, Carbon 14 and Iodine 125 are the three most common nuclides discharged from the Cardiff site

Local people are concerned by the high levels of radioactivity found in the food by MAFF’s quarterly monitoring. The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) states that there is no safe dose of radiation. Furthermore, the effects of ionising radiation are additive and cumulative, dependent on their half-lives.

Adverse health effects are associated with low-level ionising radiation and many people are in the plume of discharge from this plant. More than a 1,000 people signed a petition, which was accepted by the European Parliament in 1999. After an announcement by the First Secretary of Wales that the discharges were safe, a further petition of concern was presented to the Petitions Committee in October 2000, when the petition was debated. The Parliament’s Petition Committee decided to keep the Cardiff Petition open and have referred it to other committees.

Community Concern held a conference at County Hall. Professor Frank Barnaby and Professor Alice Stewart were guest speakers with the barrister, Hugo Charlton, The group have had meetings with members of the National Assembly for Wales, the Environment Agency, Bro Taf Health Authority and with members of the European Parliament. Eurig Wyn, MEP, is currently funding an epidemiological survey for Community Concern around the Cardiff site of Nycomed Amersham.

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