Bay clean-up ‘frustrating’

PROPOSALS FOR clearing up Dalgety Bay’s radiation problem are expected to be drawn up in the new year.

It is 23 years since radioactive particles were first discovered at the foreshore near Dalgety Bay Sailing Club and residents are still waiting for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to admit responsibility and take action. This week there were signs of progress being made, with site investigations almost complete and the MoD willing to meet the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and other stakeholders in early January.

Sepa radioactive substance specialist Dr Paul Dale was at Monday’s meeting of Dalgety Bay and Hillend Community Council to give residents an update. He said the MoD had still to complete the most important investigation of the site, to find out exactly where the radioactive material is and the extent of the contamination. “A lot of work is ongoing, which we hope will come to fruition in the new year,” he said. “I think most of the key bits of work that are needed have either already been completed or will be completed in the new year.

“The most important piece of work is the delineation of where the contamination is and its magnitude. The MoD is committed to developing the reports necessary to allow us to develop remediation options, and allow us to consult on these in due course.”

Residents would like to see work to either remove or contain the contamination completed by this time next year. However, after remediation options are published early next year, they will be subject to consultation and then a contractor will have to be appointed to carry out the work.

A Sepa report pointed the finger firmly at the MoD as the party responsible for radioactive particles found at Dalgety Bay beach. The report confirmed radium-226 found at the shore originated from paint used to make aircraft dials luminous.

Studies of the coastline suggest incinerated radioactive waste was dumped prior to 1959, when nearby airbase HMS Merlin was decommissioned.

Sepa’s Appropriate Persons document stated neither Dalgety Bay Sailing Club nor developers involved in building the new town were responsible for the contamination, which has been released as the headland erodes and was first detected in 1990.

But the MoD said it had concerns over the “adequacy and validity” of Sepa’s approach to the report.

Remediation work is vital if Dalgety Bay beach is to escape being the first UK site to be designated radioactive contaminated land.

Community council chairman Colin McPhail said residents are losing patience. “It’s very frustrating,” he said. “People here in the community know about it and, of course, it gets into the media from time to time but it will not go away.

“We’ve got to live with it as a legacy if nothing happens because the half-life of radium-226 is 1,600 years.”

Mark Hutchinson, director of service delivery at the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), said in an email to the community council: “Officials from Sepa, MoD and Public Health England met only last week and whilst the outcome was very positive, it did highlight additional areas of further work.

“Nevertheless, I remain hopeful that the discussions will involve the key stakeholders if not before the new year, then shortly thereafter.

“In the meantime, DIO will continue the routine monitoring and recovery programme to ensure that the risk to beach users remains extremely low.”

Picture: George McLuskie. The Inner Wheel of St Andrews held a Christmas tea for the residents of Rymonth House in St Andrews yesterday. Helping out were, from left, president Alison Cutill, Nina Swan, Jean McIntosh and Marjory Watson.