How The Chernobyl Disaster Affected The UK.

The effects of this were felt most severely in Wales, Scotland, and some Northern English counties like Cumbria, which all experienced heavy rain as the radioactive cloud passed over it.

Due to this radioactive rain, there was moderate contamination to the grazing lands for sheep in these areas, and as such, the sheep reared here were at risk of radioactive contamination.

The British Food Standards Agency (FSA) placed restrictions on 9,800 UK farms, most of which were located in Wales and Cumbria.

Due to the radioactive particles becoming locked in upland peat in these areas, the sheep that grazed on them had to be monitored by their farmers.

Before being moved down from the high ground for sale, the sheep had to be tested for levels of Caesium-137 by the FSA.

The farmers were paid £1.30 extra per animal by the FSA to compensate for the extra time checking them, something known as the “Mark and Release” restrictions.

The final “Mark and Release” restrictions were only just lifted on the last 8 sheep farms in Cumbria and the last 327 Welsh sheep farms in 2012, bringing to an end the uncertainty of contaminated Welsh and Cumbrian lamb.