SEPA has considered the press release issued by Scotland Against Nuclear Dumping (SAND) on 19 October 1999.

SEPA can confirm that its officers have prepared information on the likely advice it would issue under varying circumstances when further fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel are detected at Sandside Bay. SEPA Agency Board members were provided with the information at a recent meeting and the information has been communicated to the Scottish Executive.

On the basis of current information SEPA believes that the risks posed to members of the public would not justify Sandside beach being closed. SEPA does not believe that the basis of its advice is inconsistent with that used in 1983 at Sellafield. SEPA does, however, believe that the public should be informed, by UKAEA, of the finding and removal of fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel at Sandside Bay during monitoring and of the consequences of encountering such a fragment of irradiated nuclear fuel. With this information members of the public can make a reasoned choice of which beaches to visit. Signs have already been established around Sandside Bay notifying the public of such finds on the beach.

SEPA is pressing UKAEA to quantify the extent of the seabed contamination, and to provide other information that would enable SEPA’s advice to be refined. SEPA believes that UKAEA should use the best available technology in order to provide this information. In the meantime UKAEA is required to monitor the tide line once per week and comprehensively monitor the whole of the beach once per month to ensure that any fragment of fuel finding its way to the beach at Sandside Bay is promptly detected and removed. The monitoring techniques currently being employed by UKAEA would locate a fragment of irradiated nuclear fuel on the surface of the sand 10 times less active as so far detected.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

· The circumstances at Sandside Bay are different to those encountered on beaches close to Sellafield in 1983. At Sellafield radioactive material associated with solvents was inadvertently released and this coated and stuck to material found on the strandline, such as seaweed, seashells, feathers plastic bottle tops, old gloves and tarry substances. Several hundred contaminated items were found and subsequently removed. There was also a concern that the contaminated items were such that it could be reasonably expected that members of the public might pick them up and subsequently this could result in irradiation of the hand above the dose limit. Of particular concern was the tarry substance that could get stuck to hands. In all cases it was concluded that inadvertent ingestion of the contamination would not exceed the public dose limit. Advice was issued by the Department of the Environment that members of the public should not unnecessarily use the beaches and should in any event wash their hands after any visit. This warning was withdrawn in July 1984.

· At Sandside Bay 7 fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel have been found since 1983. Four of these fragments have been detected since August 1999 when a stricter monitoring regime was established under SEPA’s new authorisation. These finds are metallic fragments, the size of a grain of sand and are indistinguishable to the human eye from the sand on the beach. The frequency of occurrence and the nature of the fragments themselves are such that the chance of encountering such a fragment whilst visiting the beach is very low. SEPA would acknowledge that the radioactive content of the seven fragments found to date at Sandside Bay if encountered would result in reddening of the skin and possible ulceration of the skin after a few hours close contact with the skin. If ingested the public dose limit would not be exceeded.

· Assessment work published in December 1998 by SEPA and the National Radiological Protection Board indicated that members of the public who dig bait at Sandside Bay had the highest chance of encounter a fragment of irradiated nuclear fuel. The assessment which used precautionary assumptions indicated that the chance of encountering a fragment of irradiated nuclear fuel for this most exposed group was of the order of one in two hundred thousand.