BBC News | SCOTLAND | New radioactive 'grain' found on beach

Another radioactive particle has been found on a beach near the Dounreay nuclear plant in Caithness.

The discovery brings to 13 the number of particles located on Sandside beach since 1983 and has prompted new calls for increased monitoring.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which operates the plant, said it was pulling out all the stops to find the source of the contamination.

But anti-nuclear campaigner Lorraine Mann believes the authority is looking in the wrong direction.

She says she wants monitoring to be stepped up until the source of the "hot" metal is found.

Lorraine Manne
Lorraine Mann: "Increased monitoring"
The particle, uncovered by a vehicle-mounted Geiger counter, is about the size of a grain of sand.

Dounreay director Peter Welsh said everything possible was being done to trace the source of the particles.

He said efforts had focused on a disused underwater chamber through which the plant's low-level radioactive waste used to be discharged into the sea.

However, Ms Mann said that theory did not add up.

She is urging UKAEA to start considering other possible sources.

Members of the public cannot make an informed choice about whether to use Sandside beach or not while Dounreay's operators play down the risk posed by the particles, she added.


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