Photo by FeatheredTar
It's been a couple of years since I mentioned Dalgety Bay on here, but the story of their radioactive beach has just hit the headlines big-time over the last few days.
To recap, during World War II there was an airbase there, to protect the good people of Edinburgh from the Luftwaffe. At the end of the war, the site was used to dismantle the now-surplus-to-requirements aircraft. There was a slight problem, though - the aircraft dials were painted with radioactive radium to make them glow in the dark. The Ministry of Defence decided to ignore the problem by just burning all the material, then using it as landfill to reclaim some of the foreshore at Dalgety Bay. Problem solved, job done.
Until 1990, when radioactive particles started washing up on the beach. In fact, 1,800 different particles have been found on the foreshore since then, with over 100 in the last week alone.
There have been plans to deal with this before, but not to actually stop the "leak". One that sticks in my mind was the plan to concrete over not just the beach, but the gardens of everyone who lives in the area. That solves the problem of people accidentally picking up radioactive material in the soles of their shoes, or their kids shoving their fingers in their mouths after making a sandcastle. But it doesn't actually deal with where the contamination is coming from.
That would require the MoD actually investigating. Which, according to yesterday's Sunday Herald, they're reluctant to do. They don't want to investigate where the radioactive material is coming from in case they come in to contact with radioactive material.
Yeah, I know.
Much easier just to concrete over everything, ensuring there's a handy hole left on the sandy beach for us to stick our heads into.
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