Beach Radiation Report Findings Revealed

A report on radioactive contamination at Dalgety Bay is published.

Radiation at Dalgety Bay beach poses a potential risk to public health and could get worse.

That's one of the key findings in an independent report published by Comare.

The paper also highlights that the UK does not have comprehensive records of land potentially contaminated with radiation and warns that the failure poses an unknown risk to the population.

The source of the radiation at Dalgety Bay is thought to be luminous instrument dials from World War Two aircraft.

Gordon Brown claims the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Health knew months ago they should be putting up warning signs across “extensive areas” at Dalgety Bay, alerting parents to the dangers for children playing near the beach, but chose to delay publication of the report.

The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP said:

“We need further work to determine how significant a risk resulting from skin contact is - particularly for children.”

"The report exposes the fact that “current contamination is more widespread and is not fixed” and also says current monitoring equipment is “not good enough for detection” of radiation. In addition it asserts the current programme to identify and retrieve radiation particles is “not cost effective or sustainable in the long term.”

"If nothing is done the report declares there will be “a spread of contamination”. It also says: “failure to take action to implement an engineered solution will prolong the situation and the attendant risks to the public while also incurring ongoing costs for an indefinite period into the future.”
The report also recommends that parents should not allow children to dig in the beach area. Periodic reviews of the dose rate will take place. While there is no evidence of bone and brain cancer now, there has to be a review of cancer rates in 5-10 years’ time."

Mr Brown said: “I put down urgent questions before Parliament broke up. There should have been immediate action on the report not its suppression for months on end. I want an assurance that all actions recommended in the report will be taken immediately, especially on child health and on advising urgent action to clean up the area.”

In a statement, a Government spokesperson said:

"The advice from Public Health England, formerly the Health Protection Agency, has consistently been and following consideration of this report, continues to be, that the risk to the local community at Dalgety Bay from the presence of radium is very low.
 
“The Government is committed to ensuring that those living locally continue to receive the best possible advice which is why we have worked closely with COMARE to ensure the report’s findings are based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date information available.
 
“Over the last two decades the MoD has worked closely with SEPA, the Scottish Government and the Dalgety Bay Forum to manage the site so that the local community can continue to safely use the bay. A report setting out remediation options was published earlier this year and next month the MoD will publish a long term solution for the bay, setting out how all parties can best manage the site in the future.
 
“The MoD already has in place a robust programme to monitor and investigate all of its current estate which includes identifying those sites where radium contamination is present and this information is already in the public domain. Robust legislation is also already in place in England, as in the other parts of the UK, to ensure that suspected radioactive contaminated land is identified, investigated and remediated as appropriate.”