ERL is currently involved in the TRansfer – Exposure – Effects (TREE) project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Environment Agency (EA) and Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM) under the Radioactivity and the Environment (RATE) programme.
The overall objective of the TREE project is to reduce
uncertainty in estimating the risk to humans and wildlife associated with exposure to radioactivity and to reduce unnecessary conservatism in risk calculations.
This will be achieved through four interlinked science components beginning with improving our understanding of the biogeochemical behaviour of radionuclides in soils through to studying the transgenerational effects of ionising radiation exposure on wildlife. Our studies will combine controlled laboratory experiments with fieldwork; most of which will take place in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ).
Here at ERL, projects are heavily focussed on quantifying the effects of radioactive exposure on different biota, such as bumble bees, drosophila, birds and daphnia within the CEZ and within our own high exposure radiation facility at the University of Stirling.
