Updates from the project, and what to expect if you see us working on the river.
A funded PhD at Newcastle University, supervised by Dr Seb Pitman and Dr Matt Perks from our team with Dr Rich Cross of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, will study how pellets from the July spill take up and carry metals left by the Tyne's mining history. Applications close at midday on Tuesday 5 January 2027.
BBC News has looked at the questions that remain three months after the spill: who was at fault, how much can be recovered, where the pellets are going and what the effect on wildlife will be. Pellets have now been found from Northumberland to North Yorkshire, and Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency says pellets on its west coast probably came from the Tyne.
The article quotes Dr Matt Perks on our modelling, which suggests about one in eight of the pellets were still in the Tyne estuary at the end of August. Higher river flows this autumn could flush them downstream, which makes now a crucial time to collect them. He also explains why the pellets get harder to track the longer they are in the sea, and why it matters when they start to break down.
Read the BBC News article: What do we still need to know about the Tyne nurdle spill?
Newcastle University has published a feature on our work. It explains what nurdles are, how the July spill happened and why the pellets are so hard to clean up. It also describes the computer modelling we have used to advise the Scientific and Technical Advice Cell, and why the coming autumn flows matter. It includes a simulation of where the pellets are likely to have spread over the 10 weeks after the spill.
The feature also recognises the volunteers, community groups and agencies who have collected pellets along the coast. It asks anyone who has seen nurdles, or looked and found none, to tell us.
BBC News has reported on our modelling of the July spill. It found that about one in eight of the spilled pellets, around 2.2 tonnes, were still in the Tyne estuary six weeks after the spill, and that higher river flows this autumn could flush them downstream. We have urged the organisations managing the clean-up to consider ways to intercept, trap or recover the pellets before they reach the North Sea.
The story quotes Dr Matt Perks, who leads the project, and Dr Seb Pitman, who led the modelling. Seb also spoke about the findings on BBC Radio Newcastle.
Read the BBC News story: Autumn river levels could move nurdles downstream
Dr Seb Pitman spoke to BBC Radio Newcastle about our modelling of the spill. A significant share of the pellets are still in the Tyne, and the higher river flows of autumn and winter could flush them out to sea. That is a risk, but also a chance to intercept them.
Most of the pellets spilled in July were carried out to sea. But even after allowing for what clean-up teams recovered, more than two tonnes, around one in eight pellets, were still in the estuary at the end of August. Elevated river flows this autumn could flush them downstream.
Newcastle University researchers Dr Seb Pitman and Dr Matt Perks have contributed modelling and analysis to the Scientific and Technical Advice Cell (STAC), which advises the organisations managing the response to the July spill.
STAC reviewed modelling of where the pellets went alongside recovery data and shoreline surveys. As reported by BBC News on 30 September, work by Newcastle University and Cefas found that only around 28% of the spilled pellets had been recovered. Most of the rest are likely to have been carried beyond the Tyne estuary into the North Sea. Our modelling suggests many are still in the river and could keep washing up along the coast for some time, depending on the weather, winds and tides.
Read the BBC News story: Only 28% of nurdles 'recovered', researchers say
Our NERC Urgency project starts this month. Over the next 12 months we will survey the tidal Tyne from the river mouth to Wylam to find out where the pellets spilled on 19 July have travelled and settled. We will also study how the pellets change over time. We will post updates here as the work progresses.
Newcastle University researchers are among the academic experts contributing to the Scientific and Technical Advice Cell, which advises the organisations managing the incident.
A research collaboration between
