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Gordon Brown claims Dalgety Beach radiation more dangerous than estimated before

Brown claims evidence of ‘disturbing’ radiation risk at Dalgety Bay The former prime minister is handing over a dossier to the MoD highlighting the heightened danger of radiation. News STV, 25 March 2012 Former prime minister Gordon Brown says he has
seen new evidence of “disturbing” levels of radiation at a Fife beach where wartime military aircraft were incinerated.

Mr Brown, who is MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, is stepping up
calls for an urgent clean-up operation at Dalgety Bay, where
“significant” sources of radiation were discovered earlier this year.

He is meeting defence secretary Philip Hammond to hand over a dossier
highlighting recent discoveries of radioactive particles which, Mr
Brown says, show the risk is higher than previously thought.

Laboratory tests have found that some of the more abundant small
particles have unexpectedly high levels of solubility, making them
more dangerous if swallowed, according to Mr Brown’s dossier.

He also says small particles have been discovered in much larger
numbers than previously reported.

The contamination is thought to stem from residue of radium-coated
instrument panels used on military aircraft which were incinerated and
land-filled in the area at the end of the Second World War.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) and the Defence
Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) have agreed a plan to treat the bay,
but Mr Brown says that in the light of his new evidence, the Ministry
of Defence should step in.

He said: “The only long-term way of lifting the threat of designating
Dalgety Bay as radiation contaminated is a clean-up programme…..
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/east-central/301590-brown-claims-evidence-of-disturbing-radiation-risk-at-dalgety-bay/

March 26, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, UK