Radioactive Scrap Found in Scotland

A shipment of radioactive scrap metal headed to Scotland was impounded after it triggered alarms at a Lanarkshire freight terminal in Scotland.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency isolated the shipment, which was detected as it traveled through Coatbridge's international freight terminal.

SEPA last night said it was satisfied the sealed shipment, which was discovered yesterday afternoon, posed no immediate danger.

ASEPA spokeswoman said: "The container was intact with no sign of physical damage.

"A radiological survey has been carried out on the container and the surrounding area.

"The container has been isolated, it is secure, and we are certain it poses no threat to public safety." She added: "It is thought that the container came from overseas and was bound for a Scottish-based metals recovery operation."

But environmental campaigners claimed the hazardous load could easily have slipped through the net and been recycled into new consumer goods.

The discovery led to fresh calls for tighter surveillance procedures to combat what is thought to be a lucrative criminal trade in radioactive scrap.

It is thought that the metal, which was being carried in a sealed container, had been imported from overseas and was bound for a Scottish metal-processing unit.

Stewart Kemp, secretary of the Nuclear Free Local Authorities campaign group, who published a report on the radioactive scrap metal trade earlier this year, said: "The dangers posed by this activity is frightening. The metal can get into household items or cars and pose a massive health risk.

"The break-up of the former Soviet Union has increased the risk of radioactive waste metal from power plants being available.

"Organized crime gangs can get access to the metal for free, and they sell it off as clean to unsuspecting buyers.

"It is lucrative and it is very hard to trace."