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Energy: Dounreay Fast Breeder Reactor

Answer

Since the start of operations at Dounreay in the 1950s, the site has been authorised at various times to dispose of solid, liquid and gaseous radioactivity to the environment. It has been a condition of these authorisations that the environmental impact is measured and reported. This has shown that the elevated levels of radioactivity found in the environment around Dounreay as a result of authorised disposals are well below the limits for public exposure to radioactivity. In addition, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency carries out its own monitoring, and the results are published annually in the Radioactivity in Food and the Environment series. It is now known that particulate in the form of fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel entered the liquid effluent disposal system at Dounreay and was discharged to sea. Seabed surveys have detected these fragments, or particles, in the sediment near the old discharge point. The action of the sea on the sediment is thought to transport the particles, which have been detected during routine monitoring of the beaches at Sandside and Dunnet and the foreshore at Dounreay. UKAEA, on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, is consulting on feasible options for remediation. The outcome of this consultation is expected to help identify environmentally acceptable methods of dealing with this issue. UKAEA believes it will not be practicable to retrieve all particles released from the site, but the offshore source should be substantially reduced. Any particles detected on local beaches as a result of regular inspections are removed.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

685 c209WA; 7707

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Contamination Beaches Nuclear power stations Radioactive materials Seas and oceans Dounreay Fast reactors

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk