The monitoring of a public beach where radioactive particles from the Dounreay nuclear plant were found has been suspended.

The procedure to monitor Sandside in Caithness for particles was halted despite the fact that the programme forms part of the plant's operating licence requirement.

The owner of Sandside Beach, Geoffrey Minter, said he had to deny the Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) access because it had refused to accept it had contaminated his land.

Mr Minter said he had "bent over backwards" to help the UKAEA carry out monitoring of the beach since 1997 when two radioactive particles were found.

However, he said the authority had failed to seek his consent before removing particles and, because it had removed particles it found, it said the beach was therefore no longer contaminated.

Mr Minter, who owns four-and-a-half miles of beach to the west of Dounreay, stressed that he regretted having to take the action.

But he insisted that it was crucial to ensure a proper procedure for the collection of evidence was in place to establish the scale of the problem.

Amid concerns about public safety and liability and the decreasing value of his estate, Mr Minter said he had been placed in an impossible position where he would continue to prevent the removal of the contamination to prove his case.

'Official mediation'

He said: "It was recommended that the dispute be resolved by going into official mediation. UKAEA were invited but had so far declined to accept.

"In the meantime, having been told that they do not consider our land to be contaminated because they have removed the particles, we are placed in the impossible position of having been legally advised to deny them access to look for more particles while we would prefer the monitoring to continue and be more intensive."

A spokesman for UKAEA said it regretted it had not been allowed to monitor on Sandside Estate.

But he said the authority was ready to resume the programme as soon as permission was given.