'Reckless' Nuclear Plant Dumps Waste on Beaches

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'Reckless' Nuclear Plant Dumps Waste on Beaches

By Kenny Farquharson and Mark Macaskill

The Times of London

 

 

Saefty breaches at one of Britain's biggest nuclear research

stations resulted in hundreds of thousands of radioactive particles

escaping into the environment, a former safety officer has revealed.

Highly radioactive waste was pumped into the sea and evidence of the

pollution was covered up by managers who had a " reckless " disregard

for public health, according to Herbie Lyall, a health physics

surveyor at the Dounreay plant in Caithness for 30 years.

 

They come as the plant's owner, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, is

facing a possible criminal prosecution over a series of radioactive

leaks. More than 50 radioactive particles have been recovered from a

public beach two miles west of the plant.

 

The latest find was on Friday when a stone contaminated with

caesium-137 was recovered from another beach 20 miles from Dounreay.

The authority has admitted that " at least several hundreds of

thousands " of plutonium and uranium particles, each the size of a

grain of sand, have been released from Dounreay.

 

A report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the

Environment, to be published next month, is expected to reveal

leukaemia " clusters " around Dounreay.

 

The committee studied leukaemia cases within a 15-mile radius of

nuclear power plants and military bases since the mid-1980s.

 

Lyall, who worked at Dounreay from 1960 to 1989, has spoken

publicly for the first time about his years there despite facing

possible prosecution under the Official Secrets Act.

 

In a dossier passed to The Sunday Times, Lyall claims: oHigh-level

radioactive waste was washed down drains intended for low-level waste.

This liquid went into effluent pits which were then flushed into the

open sea, sometimes on an incoming tide. oRadioactive materials were

handled without appropriate protection. Two workers who were

contaminated later died of cancer in their forties. oEffluent samples

were collected for analysis using a wellington boot on a piece of

string because sampling machinery was " a heap of rust " .

 

One of the first discoveries of radioactive material on the

public beach next to the plant was " covered up " .

 

Radioactive containers left in dumps were not marked properly,

leading to confusion over what they contained.

 

A dumping pit used for years for " high-level " waste disposal was

redesignated to be used as a temporary store for less hazardous

material. Lyall had intended that his account should come to light

only after his death. However, continuing concerns about the health

risks from contamination around the nuclear plant have persuaded him

to speak out.

 

" There have been so many lies told to con the public about

Dounreay that I feel I must put the record straight, " said Lyall.

 

" This contamination is a legacy being left for my children's

children. It is an absolute disaster. They are talking about

prosecuting these people. They deserve execution, not prosecution.

This was people's lives they were playing with. They were acting like

nuclear cowboys. "

 

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, is demanding a

ministerial inquiry. " These allegations raise grave and far-reaching

questions about the management of the Dounreay plant over the past 30

years, " he said.

 

" They deserve the fullest possible investigation by ministers and

an end to the culture of complacency and cover-up that seems to

surround the plant.

 

" If this has been going on at Dounreay, what has been happening at

other nuclear establishments in the UK? " Lyall said he was a member of

a survey team that found a highly radioactive particle on Sandside

beach in 1984, a find that should have led to immediate public

warnings about the safety of the beach. The atomic energy authority

has denied any knowledge of the find.

 

Lyall accuses it of a cover-up and of risking the health of

families and tourists who visited the beach for 13 more years until

new concerns were raised.

 

He claims that he regularly complained to management and through

trade union officials about safety breaches, but action was rarely

taken. On one occasion, when he refused to carry out a dangerous

procedure that went against rules laid down by the government, he was

charged with refusing to obey an order, he said.

 

The two men who died of cancer had removed a faulty probe from a

reprocessor without adequate protection, Lyall said. " These two

gentlemen were not only my colleagues but personal friends, " he said.

 

" I can't say if the dose they got from this probe contributed to

their deaths, but I have my own thoughts. This example is only the tip

of the iceberg. "

 

Some management decisions left Lyall astonished. A pit used for

years as a dump for radioactive waste was turned into a temporary

storage area for non- hazardous materials, which carried an inevitable

risk of becoming contaminated, he said.

 

He witnessed the routine disposal of radioactive liquid waste down

drains intended for low-level waste. Managers would simply send it for

disposal minus its paperwork. One instance in 1988 involved the

disposal of 40 litres of highly radioactive glycol oil.

 

A spokesman for the authority yesterday conceded that safety

standards at Dounreay were less stringent in the past than now. Sandy

McWhirter, Dounreay project manager, admitted that some past practices

" could be considered reckless if not culpable today " .

 

McWhirter described Lyall's criticisms as " one man's perception of

what was adequate " in the way of safety. " He may not have been in a

position to fully understand it. "

 

Lyall, he said, was " a very enthusiastic fellow who had seen

various things and, in many cases, had misinterpreted them. In other

cases I have no way of checking what he says " .

 

 

 

 

 

Go to Original

 

Somalia: Fears over Tsunami Toxic Waste

ITV.Com

 

Friday 04 March 2005

 

Somalia is suffering the effects of illegally dumped nuclear

waste, washed ashore by the Asian tsunami, a UN report has said.

 

Residents of coastal areas in the East African country are

suffering a range of serious health problems caused by the toxic

chemicals.

 

Ailments include skin disorders, breathing difficulties and gastro

intestinal haemorrhaging.

 

The December 26 tsunami is said to have dislodged and broken up

toxic containers which had been dumped on the seabed.

 

Over the past decade, Italian and Swiss companies are alleged to

have made thousands of illegal shipments of nuclear waste along its

coastline.

 

The UN said the situation also poses a serious environmental

hazard for neighbouring countries.

 

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