Below is the latest reply to the Chairman from the MoD. Note in particular para 3 - this is an acceptance on their part, that if they are found to be the party responsible in whole or part for the contaminated land, they will carry out voluntary remediation as appropriate. This appears to be a bit of a breakthrough and the Chairman will write to the MoD again in relation to the findings of the Confidential Report to Harold Macmillan's Government in 1958 advising on the disposal of radioactive waste, particularly aircraft parts, which was not followed by the MOD
Thank you for your letter of the 27 April 2012 in which you kindly provided a copy of your report to the Community Council following the public meeting of the 9 April together with details of the epetition that has been established.
I appreciate that the local community remains understandably anxious about the situation. However, I do believe that SEPA needs to be afforded sufficient time in which to complete their statutory inspection in order to understand the risk, identify what needs to be done in the longer term to manage the risk and determine which party or parties should bear responsibility. To this end, MOD is committed to delivering the agreed investigation plan.
Our policy is very clear and remains unchanged namely: where MOD is found to be a party responsible (Appropriate Person) in whole or part for contaminated land under the statutory regime, then we will work with the regulator and other responsible and interested parties such as landowners, to meet our portion of the liability and carry out voluntary remediation where appropriate. Hopefully, this will provide some comfort to both yourself and the local community.
With regard to the buried particle detected by SEPA during their survey work on the 21 and 22 April, we are working with SEPA to understand the nature of the find and the implications with respect to the current management regime including the Amec monitoring protocol.
In the meantime I am confident that SEPA and the Expert Group will be inregular consultation with the Dalgety Bay Forum to continue to ensure that the measures currently in place are sufficient to manage the potential risk to health
On the matter of the radioactive materials store, I can confirm that this was relocated from the Sailing Club to Active Waste Accumulation Facility in Rosyth on the 30 April in accordance with the authorisation granted by SEPA. Consequently there has been no significant impact on the investigation programme and I understand that sailing activities have resumed.
I hope that this letter is sufficient to re-assure the Community Council, Sailing Club and residents that MOD and SEPA are working together to resolve the issues at Dalgety Bay.
