ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners have called for nuclear waste regulators to investigate claims of alleged serious safety concerns highlighted by staff at the Dounreay power station.

WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said it was 'deeply worrying' that inadequate protection measures are reportedly employed during the decommissioning process at the Caithness plant.

Fears were first raised in a letter written by workers stationed at Dounreay to the site's managing director Mark Rouse in November last year, just weeks after a sodium fire led to a serious radioactive leak.

The employees, tasked with safely disposing of radioactive waste on site, said the clean-up operation is being conducted at the expense of health and safety.

In response to the claims that emerged yesterday (sun), Mr Banks said: "These matters require the urgent attention of Dounreay bosses as well as the regulators.

"No employee, even those in the nuclear industry, should ever be forced to work in fear for their safety.

"The catalogue of safety concerns raised by staff are deeply worrying and call into question the measures in place to protect people and the environment.

"This whole situation again highlights the hazardous and expensive problem of dealing with the radioactive legacy of the nuclear industry."

He said it added to concerns about the use of nuclear power as an energy provider in the future.

The site is managed by Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) who contract services out to the parent body organisation (PBO) Cavendish Dounreay Partnership.

The enterprise remains subject to oversight from national regulators at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

This practice is adopted at all decommissioning sites in the UK with some plants having to fire their PBOs due to failings in their management.

Earlier this month, the National Audit Office reported that the cost of decommissioning the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria has increased by £5billion to £53bn.

The private sector consortium responsible for that site had only just been relieved from management duties in January.

However, later this week, Mr Rouse and NDA chief executive John Clarke will address the Dounreay Stakeholder Group, to allay fears that Dounreay will follow in a similar vein.

Indeed, following the submission of the workers' letter, a union source quoted in a Sunday newspaper said that relations between management and the workers had started to improve.

Concerns over the protective outfits, known as airline suits, were addressed when workers were told how to store and handle them properly.

Last night, the NDA said they were aware of the workforce concerns at Dounreay and were 'monitoring the situation closely'.

While highlighting areas of poor performance previously, the watchdogs said they would continue to work closely with site managers DSRL to complete the clean-up.

A spokesman said: "The NDA has been very clear with both DSRL and the PBO that the PFR sodium tank farm fire in October of last year, which led to formal improvement requirements by both ONR / SEPA, is totally unacceptable.

"We have been proactive in raising its concerns about environmental, health and safety trends at Dounreay and is consistently clear that there is no priority higher than the environmental, health, safety and security of the site, its workforce and local community.

"The NDA supports the plan put forward by the Dounreay Management Team to redress the situation and maintains regular dialogue with the regulators about the improvement work and the performance of DSRL."

A spokesman for DSRL added: "We value the input of the trade unions and will continue to work with them to deliver the contract to decommission Dounreay in a safe, secure and environmentally responsible way."

Rob Gibson, SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, said: "Health and safety is paramount, especially for something as potentially-dangerous as this.

"We've had faith in DSRL to carry out the task her and the fact they have asked for more time to do I think underlines just how difficult the job is.

"We could certainly do with some answers from the NDA on the safety issues and I hope they take a more pro-active approach to Dounreay."