Dangerous ionising radiation lingers at Scottish beach
Some of the particles found on the foreshore near a sailing club used by thousands of families are so highly radioactive that they could be lethal if they found their way inside the body. According to Sepa, outside the body they are “hot” enough to cause radiation burns on exposed skin.
Visitors at risk as MoD stops radiation monitoring at resort – Herald Scotland | News, Rob Edwards, 3 Oct 2010The health of visitors to one of Scotland’s most popular coastal resorts is being put at risk from radioactive contamination because the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stopped monitoring the area.The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is now threatening to take legal action to force the MoD to continue cleaning up Dalgety Bay in Fife, which is being repeatedly polluted by dangerous radioactive debris left over from the Second World War.
Some of the particles found on the foreshore near a sailing club used by thousands of families are so highly radioactive that they could be lethal if they found their way inside the body. According to Sepa, outside the body they are “hot” enough to cause radiation burns on exposed skin.
Dalgety Bay was the site of the Donibristle military airfield, where a large number of aircraft were dismantled after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The dials in the planes were coated with luminous, radioactive radium so they could be read at night.
The dials were removed and incinerated in a “bash, burn and bury” policy, along with other waste. The resulting ash and clinker was dumped as landfill to help reclaim part of the headland on the bay. Radioactive contamination in the area was accidentally discovered in 1990 by a monitoring team from the Rosyth naval dockyard. Since then a series of monitoring operations have been carried out, leading to the removal of 23 drums of radioactive waste.
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above – Nagasaki child victim
Harry Truman and the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Frank Jackson, 9 Aug 20 Whether the bombing of Hiroshima or the entry of the Soviet Union into the war was the crucial event in causing the Japanese surrender can never be conclusively settled (Hiroshima at 75: bitter row persists over US decision to drop the bomb, 5 August). However, very little is said about the motives for the second bomb, on Nagasaki three days later. Few argued that it was necessary to reinforce the message of Hiroshima. Rather, the military and scientific imperative was to test a different bomb design – “Fat Man”, an implosion type using plutonium, as opposed to the uranium of Hiroshima’s “Little Boy”. To my mind that, destroying a mainly civilian city for such reasons, makes it even more of a war crime, if that is possible, than the bombing of Hiroshim.a
Frank Jackson
Former co-chair, World Disarmament Campaign https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/07/harry-truman-and-the-nuclear-bombs-dropped-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki
“Shinda Onnanoko” (“Dead Girl”), by Nâzim Hikmet, translated into Japanese by Nobuyuki Nakamoto
I come and stand at every door
But no one hears my silent tread.
I knock and yet remain unseen
For I am dead, for I am dead.
I’m only seven, although I died
In Hiroshima long ago.
I’m seven now as I was then.
When children die, they do not grow.
My hair was scorched by swirling flame.
My eyes grew dim; my eyes grew blind.
Death came and turned my bones to dust
And that was scattered by the wind.
I need no fruit, I need no rice.
I need no sweets, nor even bread.
I ask for nothing for myself
For I am dead, for I am dead.
All that I ask is that for peace
You fight today, you fight today
So that the children of the world
May live and grow and laugh and play.
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http://www.sepa.org.uk/about_us/news/2010/dalgety_bay_forum_hears_progre.aspx
Dalgety Bay Forum hears progress update
EXT01 – B04
A meeting of the Dalgety Bay Forum was held today (Monday, 27 September) at which Defence Estates (DE) provided an update on the progress of the monitoring and radioactive contamination recovery work being undertaken by them at the Fife beach.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has welcomed the monitoring and particle recovery work carried out by Defence Estates over the last year, which has provided some reduction in the potential hazard at Dalgety Bay. However, a review of the monitoring reports to date indicates that the beach repopulates with radioactive sources within a few months of removal.
Dr Jim Gemmill, SEPA’s Radioactive Substances Unit Manager, said: “The Radioactive Contaminated Land Regulations 2007 (RCL) and the associated guidance placed upon SEPA a duty with respect to situations where lasting exposure to radiation could occur or where there is a significant possibility of an occurrence of radiation exposure. Dalgety Bay has been identified as a priority for assessment by SEPA, as historical reports have shown there is a potential for significant doses to be received by members of the public.
“SEPA will now consider the characterisation of the particles which have previously been recovered from the Dalgety Bay area by Defence Estate in terms of their physical size and activity, and will work with DE on a risk assessment of the hazards posed at the site in order to better inform any future risk management strategy.
“Whilst this work is ongoing, all members of the Dalgety Bay Forum agreed that an interim monitoring programme should be put in place. However, at the meeting no commitments were made for this monitoring to occur, SEPA will liaise with Defence Estates on this matter in the near future. SEPA will continue to work with the members of the Dalgety Bay Forum whilst this work is ongoing, and to keep them fully informed as the situation progresses.”