Highland Residents To Quiz MOD Over Dounreay Cover-Up
WEDNESDAY: The MOD is meeting with residents demanding answers about the cover-up of nuclear contamination in the Highlands. The Scottish Environment Secretary has made a statement to Holyrood. Bosses at the Vulcan site are travelling to Thurso to take questions from the Dounreay Stakeholder Group. It had earlier been told by the officials that the Caithness plant was"business as usual" even though the test nuclear reactor that’s there was shut down after radioactive contamination. The incident was described by the UK Government as involving “low levels of radioactivity” and the Defence Secretary said there was “no risk to public safety.” But the revelation came out more than two years after the event, and the Scottish Government had been kept in the dark about it too. Only the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency was informed, and that was many months afterwards. Yesterday Scottish Ministers, with the support of the Shadow Environment Secretary, announced that it would take back regulatory powers from the British Government, in response to what it’s called a cover-up. Tor Justad (pictured), from Strathpeffer, is a member of the Dounreay Stakeholder Group. He’s going to tonight’s public meeting, and has been talking to MFR Reporter Bryan Rutherford.