The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has welcomed the successful completion of remediation works to remove radioactive particles and prevent future contamination at the foreshore at Dalgety Bay.

The works were carried out by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and its contractor Balfour Beatty. Future monitoring plans and agreed maintenance of rock armour by Fife Council will now see the public able to access the area again for the first time since 2011.

First detected in 1990, a SEPA investigation determined that the radioactive contamination originated from the residue of radium-coated instrument panels of military aircraft that were burned and buried at the end of World War II. SEPA identified several caches of particles – with the largest contained within the headland at Dalgety Bay Sailing Club.

The remediation work replaced rock armour around the headland and installed a replacement slipway for the Dalgety Bay Sailing Club to ensure that higher activity sources are no longer being eroded out and washed onto the beach, preventing public access to the remaining contamination.

During the two-year project, areas of the foreshore were excavated and processed to remove asbestos and radiological contamination. Around 6,500 particles, mostly low activity, have been removed. Work was paused between October and April each year to protect over wintering birds.

The MOD will now complete a two-year programme of monitoring to demonstrate the effectiveness of the remediation. The SEPA and Fife Council signs advising of the historic contamination will remain in place until this programme is complete. Following the MOD programme, SEPA will take over monitoring of the area to give the necessary public reassurances in perpetuity. Fife Council has committed to the ongoing maintenance of the rock armour around the headland to ensure lasting effectiveness.   

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Professor Paul Dale, Unit Manager of SEPA's Radioactive Substances Team, said:  

"The completion of this work is significant for Dalgety Bay and for Scotland's environment. SEPA have been clear in our requirements that remediation would be done once, and it would be done right – providing a permanent and positive resolution for the communities who lived with the environmental legacy of Second World War radium contamination for several decades.   

"There are many people in SEPA, myself included, who have been working for many years to deliver this outcome. The journey to successful remediation was only possible because SEPA, Fife Council DIO continued to work constructively together with a range of partner organisations, scientific experts including COMARE and UKHSA and, most importantly, the local community."  

Cllr Altany Craik, Fife Council Spokesperson for Finance, Economy and Strategic Planning, said:

"I'm so pleased the beach at Dalgety Bay will finally be back in use for the public after such a long time. The community has been very patient through all this disruption and I'm delighted that they can finally enjoy the area again."   

Mairi McAllan, Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition said:

"I'm very pleased that this work has been completed successfully and that the local community will once again be able to enjoy unrestricted access to Dalgety Bay. I'd like to thank SEPA and all partners for their continued hard work to deliver this and to ensure that access can be maintained in the future."

Minister of State for Defence, Baroness Goldie, said: "It's great to see Dalgety Bay once again open for communities to enjoy, thanks to the hard work of the Ministry of Defence and our organisations and partners. I am very pleased that work to address this long-standing issue has been successful.

"We will continue our monitoring to ensure this beautiful area can be enjoyed safely."

David Salmond, DIO Programme Director said: "This was a highly complex and specialist project which saw multiple challenges, including the constraints caused by the need to protect over-wintering birds.

"That it has been delivered successfully is testament to the excellent collaboration between all partners including, DIO, SEPA, Fife Council and the Dalgety Bay Sailing Club, and the excellent delivery of design and works by our contractors AECOM and Balfour Beatty."

Hector MacAulay MBE, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty's regional construction business in Scotland, said: "This is a significant achievement for Balfour Beatty, the MOD and SEPA.

"Over the last two years, we have worked diligently and collaboratively to remove radioactive particles from the foreshore and restore safe and unrestricted access to Dalgety Bay for the local community for the first time in more than a decade."