Annual Report for 2010/11 and Forward Programme - Sellafield Ltd

SSEM/2011/4730 June 2011size and will be re-monitored eleven times each during the programme year.Selection of these areas has focussed on beach areas for which data has beencollected in previous years monitoring (Table 7.1) and where consistently high findrates have been observed. These boxes represent the core area to be covered oneach and every visit to the Sellafield beach, with additional coverage of theneighbouring beach, up to a total of 4 hectares dependent on available area at eachmonitoring visit. This combination of core areas and additional area affords a degreeof flexibility in the monitoring and avoids overly constraining the contractor in what arechallenging working conditions.Likewise, at Braystones 2 box areas have been selected. These are larger in size (5hectares) and will be revisited three times in the programme year. As with Sellafield,each of these areas has been revisited extensively in previous years monitoring; andrepresent areas of elevated find rates. A total of 14 hectares will be covered on eachvisit to Braystones, to include both of the defined 5 hectare boxes.Both St Bees and Seascale are beaches that are regularly visited by members of thepublic. At each beach a single area (3 hectares) has been selected, closest to themain parking areas and public access points. St Bees will be revisited five timesduring the programme year, with Seascale revisited three times, reflecting thenortherly bias to find rates. The visits to these beaches have been scheduled closelyaround the Easter and Summer breaks, during which the highest occupancy levelsare expected. A total area of 24 hectares will be covered at St Bees, with a total of 14hectares covered at Seascale.In the context of the total monitoring, repeat areas represent approximately 50% ofthe 150 hectare programme. Details of the repeat monitoring areas are summarisedbelow and accompanying maps can be found in Figure 7.2Table 7.1. Repeat areas for the 2011/12 beach monitoring programmeRepeat box Area (ha)Number of previous monitoringvisits*Sellafield 1 (north) 1 9Sellafield 2 (south)** 1 10Braystones 1 (north) 5 9Braystones 2 (south) 5 10Seascale 3 5St Bees 3 6*Based on complete or part coverage of the repeat box.**The 1 ha had to be split into two boxes to avoid a small area of large rocks.Braystones beach, with its relatively high find-rates and greater public occupancylevels than Sellafield, will continue to dominate as the beach with the largest targetmonitoring area. As in previous years, monitoring will take place a number of times.The requirement for a walked wind-blown strandline monitoring has also beenincorporated into the programme at appropriate quarterly intervals. This monitoring,which normally takes about three days to complete, has been identified alongside theneed for regular vehicle maintenance.Blocks of “buffer time” when no monitoring will be completed. In previousprogrammes, week-long blocks have been incorporated to allow for recovery of theprogramme in the event that unforeseen circumstances (e.g. inclement weather or© Nuclear Decommissioning Authority 2011. 96