Dalgety Bay radiation: beach clean-up to be completed by summer

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) told local councillors on Wednesday that remediation works will be complete by late summer .

Stephen Ritchie, a spokesman for MoD said: “We are continuing to support the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for corrective action at Dalgety Bay. We are confident that by late summer this year we will be completing the works and taking down fences.”

Removal of radioactive materials from beaches in the town - thought to be Scotland's worst area of radioactive pollution - began in November 2020, some 30 years after they were first discovered. The works were originally meant to be finished in the fall of last year, but the completion date was pushed back until June.

Mark Toner, a representative from SEPA, told councillors that some 3,500 radioactive particles have been removed from the shore over the course of nearly three years.

Mr Ritchie from the MoD said: “We are fairly confident at this point that things are moving in the right direction.”

Completed areas of the site were scanned after lying undisturbed over winter, and Mr Ritchie reported “from memory” that only one or two radioactive particles remained at the surface.

“It would appear that the works we’re carrying out are fairly positive. It indicates that nothing else is getting washed up, which is good,” he said.

Radioactive material was first detected on the foreshore of Dalgety Bay in 1990. It was believed to come from old wartime aircraft - radium coated instrument panels from military aircraft were incinerated and sent to a landfill near Dalgety Bay at the end of the Second World War.

Private contractor Balfour Beatty has handled the clean-up on behalf of defence chiefs since remediation began in November 2020. The goal is to make Dalgety Bay's beaches fully accessible to the public for the first time in years once they are finished.

Committee convener David Barratt (SNP) said: “I think the locals will be glad to see this coming to some kind of conclusion after so many years of being an issue and campaigns that couldn’t get anyone to take responsibility for it all.”

When the clean up work is complete, Mr Toner said the site boundaries and fences will be removed following a radiation survey.

Contractors on behalf of the MoD will be required to monitor the beach for two years while signs remain in place for the public. SEPA will then take over a reduced monitoring scheme. The agency has also proposed a community engagement event to provide an overview to the public.