AN attempt to improve the battered public image of the Dounreay nuclear complex in Scotland has ended in embarrassment. The site鈥檚 operator, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, has had to apologise for falsely claiming that it had received an apology from a government advisory committee.
In June, the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) strongly criticised the UKAEA for failing to provide information on how an explosion in 1977 might have spread 150 potentially lethal radioactive particles onto Dounreay鈥檚 foreshore. (This Week, 24 June).
A month ago, Dounreay鈥檚 deputy director Colin Gregory told a public meeting at the nearby town of Wick that COMARE had written to Dounreay accepting that it had not been misled about the blast. Gregory complained to the meeting that the media had failed to publicise COMARE鈥檚 鈥渁pology鈥�.
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But when COMARE鈥檚 chairman, Bryn Bridges, heard about Gregory鈥檚 remarks, he insisted that COMARE had not withdrawn its criticism or apologised. Bridges says that he has since received a letter from Dounreay鈥檚 director, John Baxter, apologising for Gregory鈥檚 remarks. Gregory made an 鈥渉onest mistake鈥�, says Dounreay鈥檚 spokesman, Ian Shepherd. In a letter to the UKAEA in July, Bridges wrote that COMARE had not accused the UKAEA of 鈥渄eliberately鈥� withholding information.
Coincidentally, Dounreay announced that it has found another eight highly radioactive particles on the site. This brings the total found since June to 29. Monitoring has also uncovered 85 patches of contamination. 鈥淲e have found rather more than we were expecting,鈥� says Shepherd.