Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has stepped up the pressure on the Ministry of Defence to end "delays" in dealing with radioactive particles found on a Scottish beach.
The MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath said residents of Dalgety Bay were "increasingly angry" over the situation and were looking to the Ministry of Defence and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for answers and for action.
Speaking during his short Commons debate on the issue, said: "They wish the radiation contaminated particles to be removed, they wish a remedial action plan, a clean up plan to be agreed for Dalgety Bay beach area and they wish to be reassured about not only the amenity of their area, the house price values, the ability to use the beach, but they also want reassurance about the safety and the health of the people in the area."
Mr Brown added advice given in recent weeks by the medical committee that dealt with radiation in the environment said in their view action to remedy the area had got to happen "as quickly as possible".
He said: "We have seen the process of dealing with this radiation contamination slow down to the point at which people are increasingly worried about whether the timetables that have been agreed are going to be upheld."
The committee, he said, outlined three reasons for quick action, including the long life of the materials discovered, the dynamic process by which through coastal erosion the materials were coming to the surface posing a health hazard and their size and scale.
Mr Brown said the investigation plan of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation had not been observed and the Ministry of Defence had "refused to accept responsibility for the contamination of the area".
He said: "It is the Ministry of Defence that is responsible for these delays," adding: "The Ministry of Defence has failed to produce a report, it has failed to produce the investigation, it has not yet produced the investigatory assessment, equally at the same time, many people regard it as the initial polluter in the first place."
He added that the Ministry of Defence had a legal and moral responsibility to accept that "it dumped the material in the first place, that the material is there because it came from Ministry of Defence aircraft, that the pollution is the direct effect of having dumped this material in the first place and to refuse to accept responsibility is something that is angering people with good cause in Dalgety Bay".
Defence Minister Andrew Robathan said a report by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) was due "very soon" and that would determine whether the land at Dalgety Bay should be designated as radioactive. But, the minister said, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) had found the radiation discovered at the site posed little harm to the public, with the risk of contracting a fatal cancer from land in the area less than one-in-a-hundred million.
