MORE than 5kg of enriched uranium and spent nuclear fuel from a now defunct reactor in a former Soviet republic is among materials stored at the Dounreay facility in Caithness that could be destined for export to the US, under an deal announced days ago by David Cameron.

He told a nuclear security summit in Washington that 700kg (1540lbs) of highly enriched uranium (HEU) would be transported to the US from the Caithness facility.

In return America would send a different type of used uranium back to Europe where it would be converted into isotopes to help diagnose cancer.

The nuclear fuel originated at Tbilisi in Georgia and was transported to Scotland in 1998.

According to an environmental assessment from the US Department of Energy, the intention was that none of it would be returned to the USA. The United Kingdom assumed responsibility for the material once it landed here.

“None of the material would be returned to the United States and there would be no physical project (such as a permanent building or other facility) constructed in a foreign country,” read the assessment.

“The United Kingdom would assume responsibility for the fuel once in their possession.”

A pressure group has now spoken out against the transportation and said the “prime terrorist material” should remain in the UK.

Cumbrians Opposed to a Nuclear Environment (Core) claimed the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) had performed a U-turn over its transportation.

Core said a plan previously agreed with stakeholders to manage the “exotic” fuel at Sellafield, in Cumbria, was ditched without consultation, in a deal “rushed through with government” to meet the Washington summit deadline.

Martin Forwood, Core’s campaign co-ordinator, said yesterday: “Never mind the win-win deal for the UK and US as it was described by government, this is no more than a wink-wink, nudge-nudge agreement hatched by two governments who clearly have little regard for the security of nuclear weapons-usable materials.

“How can the threat of nuclear terrorism possibly be curbed – an action demanded by the Washington summit – when UK and US leaders, with the connivance of the NDA, are prepared to deliberately expose this weapons-useable HEU to the obvious and very real dangers of transatlantic shipment and terrorist threat.

“This toxic and prime terrorist material should be kept in the UK and we oppose any plan to ship it to the US.

“We condemn without reservation not only the sickening way in which the deal has been sold by government as a cancer fighting initiative, but also the NDA’s covert U-turn – breathtaking in its deception – and its trashing of the obligatory transparency of a deal that has been struck without public consultation.”

Core said the options for managing Dounreay’s HEU were previously assessed during public consultations in 2012 and 2013, when the NDA said its preferred option was transferring the material to Sellafield for long-term management.

In a report dated February 2012, the NDA said transporting the “exotics” from Dounreay to Sellafield offered many advantages.

“Under this option, the number of transports would depend on the mode, but as a guide, there would be in the region of 30-60 journeys during a six-year period, commencing probably around 2014-15,” it said.

MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Paul Monaghan said: “David Cameron now has serious questions to answer about his actions and his personal involvement in this entire nuclear debacle, which is growing worse by the day.

“It is clear that the UK Government cannot be trusted and I will be calling for a full investigation by Euratom to ensure that all international laws and regulations are upheld by David Cameron to protect the people of my constituency and indeed the whole of Scotland.”

Campaigners in the United States have reacted with fury at the prospect of these exotics being shipped to a private-sector facility based in Erwin in Tennessee.

The Savannah River site in South Carolina was built in the 1950s to refine nuclear materials for use in nuclear weapons, and Tom Clements, director of Savannah River Site Watch, has argued that managing the materials is the sole responsibility of the UK.

He said the deal amounted to nothing more than waste dumping on the US, and that in non-proliferation terms the HEU should be left in the UK. Core said the NDA first hinted that HEU from Dounreay could be transferred to a third party in January, but that there was no suggestion of US involvement.

It added that the NDA’s strategy document – with no update on Dounreay’s HEU – was published on April 1, the day after the government’s announcement of the deal between the UK and the US.

HEU at Dounreay comprises oxide powders and pellets, with some uranium metal and allows with varying levels of weapons-enrichment capability. They were said by the group to “present operational and disposability difficulties”.

The NDA did not respond to The National’s request for comment.


The National View: Toxic decisions show contempt for Scotland