Anger at move to send 46 nuclear shipments through Scotland by rail

PLANS that could see radioactive material transported the length of Scotland by train have been attacked as "risky" by environmental campaigners.

A report from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) says there is a "clear and compelling strategic case" to move material from Dounreay in Caithness for reprocessing at Sellafield in Cumbria.

If approved, the first of 46 shipments could start in January next year and run over four years.

Transporting the material would cost about 30 million, with another 30m to have it reprocessed. Treating and storing it at Dounreay would cost an estimated 65m.

But Friends of the Earth Scotland said the possibility of accidents or the material getting into the hands of terrorists meant the shipments presented too high a risk.

Stan Blackley, chief executive of FoE, said: "We do not believe it is safe to take nuclear material around the country on trains or lorries and so it should stay put where, at least in the short term, it can provide employment.

"Moving this material about is a very risky business, not only because accidents can happen but also, frankly, because it opens the material up to terrorism.

"You put it in small batches and move it around the country and into public areas and there is too much risk in terms of accidents or terrorism to make it worthwhile.

"If they are just trying to save a few million quid, they are better off leaving it where it is."

The experimental Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) was developed in the 1950s. It used an inner reactor core operating at high temperature and an outer ring, known as breeder material, of uranium metal which captured neutrons from the inner core and produced plutonium, which could be removed and converted to new fuel.

In the late 1960s, 30 tonnes of breeder material was sent from Dounreay to Sellafield, but a further 44 tonnes remains at the Caithness site. It is considered to be neither fuel nor waste.

A final business case for its disposal will be presented in the autumn and a decision by the NDA is expected two months later.

There are no longer reprocessing facilities at Dounreay and no known overseas commercial metal reprocessing facilities that could manage the DFR breeder material.

This meant transport to Sellafield or treating and storing at Dounreay were the only credible options selected for further investigation by the NDA.

The report says: "Both options have been evaluated as costing similar amounts to implement and both also have some large risks and uncertainties associated with them."However, the Sellafield option addresses safeguards and non-proliferation issues, removes the material from the Dounreay site, making long-term savings in security costs more accessible, and increases the number of options available for managing the uncertainties associated with long-term disposability of products.

"In addition, reprocessing is an established, technically mature treatment process."

An NDA spokesman said it was previously thought the Sellafield reprocessing plant would have closed by now, but it is to remain open until 2017. "This material used to go to Sellafield and all we are doing is restarting that programme," he said.

The Scottish Government said it expected the transfer of any nuclear material to be managed in a "safe, secure and responsible manner", adding: "The transportation of breeder fuel from Dounreay would be subject to strict regulatory requirements."