Houses in Thurso contaminated by Dounreay

Workers at the nuclear plant at Dounreay have been bringing home radioactive particles attached to their clothins and skin. This was revealed when the Scottish Environmental Agency recently published a study which had been completed in 1994.

The research was carried out by ICI Tracerco at 34 Houses in Thurso. This was compared with the results at 20 homes in Banff. The homes were analysed for plutonium and americium. There are small trace amounts of these in most homes as a result of nuclear weapons tests carried out in the 1960s.

The study found that the levels in Thurso were higher than in Banff and concludes:

"The levels of plutonium 239/240 found in Thurso are consistent with the hypothesis that very low level personal contamination causes contamination of household dust".

It also said that levels of plutonium and americium "are higher in the household dusts of workers in the fuel-handling area and engineering services group than in other areas."

The report can be found at SEPA.

There are known to be similar problems around Sellafield where plutonium has been found in the dust of houses in surrounding villages.