§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what notification his Department received from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in respect of the fires in the D9833 wet silo at Dounreay; and what investigations have been conducted by the Scottish Environmental Protection agency. [8674]
§ Mr. KynochNotification of incidents of this nature would be made by the authority to the nuclear installations inspectorate. Nevertheless, reports by HM industrial pollution inspectorate covering the period April 1988 to March 1996 refer to an incident in 1992 when a small fire occurred in a radioactive waste store as a result of the reaction of traces of sodium metal with moisture. The fire was quickly brought under control and extinguished. Monitoring undertaken in the vicinity at the time indicated no radioactive material had been released.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency was established on 1 April 1996. It has received no notification of any fires in the wet storage facility. The agency will continue to monitor closely operations at the site.