Screening levels for assessing 137Cs contamination along the coast of India

Assessment of potential impacts on the environment around the nuclear facilities requires precise estimation of prevailing background concentration and statistical inference of the measurement data. The current study was focused to understand the statistical variation associated with data generated for 137Cs concentration in sea water and sediment for the west and east coat of India. The distribution followed was found to be lognormal and based on geometric mean and geometric standard deviation of the 137Cs concentrations data, a screening level in terms of Environmental Increment factor has been evaluated which can form basis for future impact assessment.