Extensive work is under way to determine the source of radioactive particles at a Fife beach.

BBC: Dalgety Bay radiation: Diggers to be used in pit testing

Further work to determine the source of radioactive particles at a Fife beach will begin next week.

BBC: Dalgety Bay radiation: Tests to begin at beach next week

Tokyo Electric has been using colored powder to trace the source of highly radioactive water leaking into the ocean near Fukushima, which was damaged by an earthquake and tsunami last month.

FORBES: On Japan: Russia Sends Help, China Finds Radiation and India Bans Rice

In 2009, Esa funded a pilot project to examine the cost and practicality of establishing a European source of material for Radioactive Power Sources (RPS).

BBC: Nuclear space batteries could boost Sellafield jobs

The device's primary source of neutron radiation was the radioactive element californium, but the stream of neutrons produced by the californium was multiplied by passing it through a lattice of highly enriched uranium U-235, whose nuclear fission released additional neutrons.

CNN: SHARE THIS

In early May, a study by Ireland's nuclear watchdog - the Irish Radiological Protection Institute -claimed that radioactive discharge from Sellafield continued to be the dominant source of contamination in the Irish Sea.

BBC: Sellafield comment 'offensive'

Another option that has taken hold in recent years, radioactive seeds, aims to minimize side effects by placing the radiation source directly inside the prostate.

FORBES: Men, Cancer & Hope

What makes helium-3 so attractive as an alternative future fuel source is its environmentally friendly credentials, as it does not produce radioactive waste.

CNN: Mining the moon for a nuclear future

"Using these plants, we will be able to remove radioactive nuclides from the water and make it clean for irrigation purposes or even as a source of drinking water, " says Slavik Dushenkov of Phytotech.

CNN: Flower power