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Radioactive Waste Thrown into Skip and Buried on Landfill Site

Posted on: Friday, 17 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By Andrew Picken

RADIOACTIVE waste from Torness Power Station was thrown out with ordinary rubbish in a skip and sent to a Lothian dump.

A report into the blunder, released to the Evening News under freedom of information laws, revealed that workers at the nuclear plant failed even to check if the waste was radioactive before throwing it out.

It was then taken to a landfill site in Dunbar to be buried alongside normal household waste.

In a report into the incident in August 2003, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said there was a "fundamental lack of control" at the station and ordered an immediate safety review.

Green campaigners today described the report as "deeply worrying" and said it suggested the incident was just the tip of the iceberg.

But plant operator British Energy concluded that the amount of hazardous waste which was dumped was so small that it posed no threat to the either public or the environment.

The company said today that a person would receive "50 times more radiation from eating a small bag of brazil nuts".

Bosses at Torness also said lessons had been learned since the incident and the public had nothing to worry about.

The material originally came loose from within pipes at the plant during an earlier scare in 2002 and was only discovered, removed and thrown out by staff a year later.

It was not until an internal investigation was carried out that scientists discovered the material would actually have been radioactive, which they then reported to Sepa.

Sepa's report at the time said: "Whilst there is not believed to be any potential for harm to individuals or the environment due to the small quantities involved, it does show a fundamental lack of control and it is considered necessary for British Energy to undertake a comprehensive review of their plant and process".

The Sepa investigation found that a corrosion product known as "magnetite" had been shaken loose from inside the plant's pipeworks after unusual vibrations shut down Reactor 2 for six months in 2002.

The magnetite, which was radioactive and came in powder form, had then been pushed along the pipes by steam and ended up outwith the area where all contaminated materials are strictly controlled.

Bosses at Torness said this was the reason the material was assumed to be safe.

Stuart Hay, Friends of the Earth Scotland's head of research, said: "It is worrying that Sepa has identified loss of control in how radioactive waste is handled at Torness.

"While this incident may not have resulted any serious risk to health, Sepa's warning suggests that this incident could be just the tip of the iceberg.

"It is deeply worrying to discover that there is a growing number of incidents and faults on site and that British Energy's lack of action is beginning to test Sepa's patience."

"This catalogue of safety- related incidents highlights once again the folly of those suggesting Scotland embark upon a new nuclear programme."

A spokeswoman for British Energy said the incident had been reported to Sepa and "key local stakeholders" at the local liaison committee meetings as soon as it was discovered.

She added: "The level of radiation involved was negligible.

"You would receive 50 times more radiation from eating a small bag of brazil nuts, or 40,000 times more if you lived in Cornwall with its natural granite.

"Safety remains a fundamental priority for us and, while this was a breach of procedure and as such has been treated seriously, Sepa and British Energy both agreed that it presented absolutely no risk to public safety.

"Improvements to the relevant procedures were implemented in 2003 and approved by Sepa," she added.

It was the latest incident involving the disposal of waste at Torness.

In 2003, British Energy was fined GBP 15,000 for dumping more than 60 cubic metres of radioactive waste liquid effluent into the sea at the East Lothian power station in October 2001.

Source: Evening News; Edinburgh (UK)

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