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Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Wednesday 26th April 2023

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) received advice on the potential risks to health from radioactive particles found at Dalgety Bay.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) have internal advisors from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory who provide advice and support.

The risk to health is assessed and enforced by the regulator, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Contamination levels and acceptable targets for corrective action were determined by SEPA using criteria established by Public Health England. The agreed corrective action to remove contamination was set out in the management strategy paper developed by SEPA, Fife Council and the MOD.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Wednesday 26th April 2023

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when officials from his Department (a) attended and (b) carried out inspections relating to remediation works at Dalgety Bay in each of the last ten years.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials attend the site at Dalgety Bay on a regular basis. The individual visits are not recorded centrally.

Other than during the period of Covid-19 restrictions, in each of the last ten years, Monitoring Survey Inspections of the site have been carried out on a monthy basis on behalf of the MOD, by the specialist consultant company, WSP.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Tuesday 25th April 2023

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the pollutant linkage identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in the foreshore areas of Dalgety Bay has been cleared since May 2021.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Until such time as the works are completed, it is not possible to calculate the proportion of pollutant linkage identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in the foreshore areas of Dalgety Bay that has been cleared since May 2021.

However, to date, 85% of the work has been completed with 3,200 particles of contamination being removed from 7,000 cubic meters of foreshore.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Tuesday 25th April 2023

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of the remediation works at Dalgety Bay.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The current Approved Budget Level for the project is circa £15 million.

The actual cost will remain undetermined until the work is completed and any risks addressed.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish details of the process for the off-site disposal of radioactive material upon detection and removal from the beach and foreshore as part of the current and planned the remediation works at Dalgety Bay.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The off-site disposal of radioactive material upon detection and removal from the beach and foreshore is managed through a licenced facility that has been procured by the MOD’s Prime Contractor, Balfour Beatty.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Tuesday 18th May 2021

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 15 April 2019 to Question 241447 on Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay, whether the first stage of the remediations has been completed; and whether the second stage remains on target to be completed in 2021.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

The first stage of the remediation work has not been completed; however work is underway on the site, following the granting of a licence by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, which was granted on 17 May 2021.

The target remains to complete all work by September 2022.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Thursday 29th April 2021

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 15 April 2019 to Question 241447 on Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay, whether the first stage of the remediations has been completed; and whether the second stage remains on target to be completed in 2021.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Tuesday 20th October 2020

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2020 to Question 101319, how hon. Members should contact the MOD Prime Contractor for the remediation works at Dalgety Bay in order to seek clarification and updates on the progress of the licence application and subsequent stages of the project.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

I will be happy to update the hon. Member directly regarding who to contact within the Ministry of Defence for updates on the progress of the licence application and the remediation works at Dalgety Bay, or indeed do so myself, and will be in contact with the hon. Member.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Wednesday 14th October 2020

Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on what date his Department submitted an application to Scottish Environmental Protection Agency for the requisite licence to commence remediation works of the Dalgety Bay contaminated shoreline site for work scheduled to begin in summer 2020.

Answered by Jeremy Quin

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is not the authority responsible for applying for a licence to Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to commence remediation works at Dalgety Bay, the responsibility lies with the MOD Prime Contractor to whom the Final Contract Award was made in February 2020.

The Prime Contractor is intending to submit an application to SEPA by the end of November 2020.


Written Question
Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay
Tuesday 14th May 2019

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2019 to Question 241447 on Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay, what those works will entail; what residents of Dalgety Bay and the surrounding area can expect in terms of disruption to their lives; and what visual remediation will take place on site at the end of each period of works.

Answered by Tobias Ellwood

The implementation of the agreed management strategy at Dalgety Bay involves the removal of radium sources; the reinforcement, replacement and extension of coastal armour stone and the construction of a replacement slipway at Dalgety Bay Sailing Club.

It is not possible at this time to determine the amount of disruption that may be caused by the work at Dalgety Bay as this has only recently gone to tender. Once a contractor has been appointed, a construction plan will be developed by them in consultation with the local council to minimise disruption.

Works on site will only be permitted between 1 April and 30 September each year. At the end of the first season any incomplete works will be protected and made safe, and will be completed in the following season.