The New York Times revealed a secret deal between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair for dumping a contentious shipment of 5 kgs of nuclear material in the North of Scotland.
The US has been trying for 2 years to find somewhere to take this material. The Savanah River site in the US has been ruled out and Russia and France won't take it. So, without any public consultation, it is being transported to Dounreay in Caithness.
The shipment includes 4.2 kg of unirradiated Highly Enriched Uranium plus 0.8 kg of spent fuel. It is being transported by US military aircraft from Georgia to Britain. The transport of spent fuel by air presents a major safety hazard and would not be permitted if the aircraft was overflying the United States.
The Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar admitted said today that his office had prepared a press release to be issued about the story, but the news was released first by the New York Times. Under questioning he would not say whether this press release would have been issued before or after the shipment had reached Dounreay - it is strongly suspected that the Government would not have told the Scottish people anything until after the material was on the Dounreay site.
The nuclear industry public relations machine has gone into overdrive - making much of the fact that this material will be used to produce isotopes for medical research. But these claims are spurious. Medical production only requires small amounts of HEU and there is not shortage of HEU in Britain, we already have far too much.
The Dounreay plant is by no means a suitable site for anyone's nuclear waste. It has been at the centre of controversy for several years. Large numbers of hot spots have been detected within the site and on the beaches nearby. Dounreay is also responsible for causing radioactive pollution in the Pentland Firth.
In 1977 there was an explosion in an old shaft which had been used to store a wide range of nuclear and other waste products. The scientist at the site, who were often described as the best in the country, had been dumping sodium and potassium into a water logged shaft full of nuclear waste. Any school chemistry student could have told them that an explosion was almost inevitable.
Today there is no functioning licenced reprocessing plant at Dounreay. The operators, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, are seeking permission from the safety watchdog, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, before they can do any such work. The plant have admitted that it will be at least 2 years before they could reprocess the material from Georgia.
While there is a problem with large quantities of nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, trying to 5 kgs of it in secret to Scotland is no solution. There needs to be a proper plan drawn up by the International Community about how this issue is to be addressed.