Region rejects Nirex test bores under Dounreay

prevent the construction of a nuclear waste dump at Dounreay in

Caithness.

The region's planning committee yesterday threw out an application

from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority for permission to sink

two exploratory bore holes of 800 and 1500 metres below the Dounreay

site to establish the geological suitability for the long-term storage

of nuclear waste.

Nirex has identified two possible sites -- Dounreay and Sellafield --

to house Britain's national repository for radioactive waste. The

eventual location will involve a #1000m civil engineering project to

create a store to contain all the country's low and intermediate level

nuclear waste. The number of jobs likely to be created by the project

has been hotly disputed, but is unlikely to be more than a few hundred.

At yesterday's meeting in Inverness a handful of councillors, mainly

supporters of the nuclear industry from Caithness, argued against taking

a stance on the planning application until the council had visited the

Forsmark Nuclear Waste Repository in Sweden.

But the committee voted by 16 votes to five to reject the application.

Councillors in Caithness are keen to find alternative work for

Dounreay to counteract the rundown in the fast breeder project based

there, but a motion to allow the test bores to go ahead failed even to

find a seconder.

Councillor Duncan MacPherson, the region's vice convener, said: ''If

we were to say 'yes' it would be seen as an open door to Nirex and we

would be regarded as a soft touch.

''The policy of the council has been to refuse to accept low and

medium level waste from outside the Highlands. Fifty-five percent of

that waste is being produced at Sellafield itself, and it doesn't make

sense to cart it all the way to Caithness. It should be left at

Sellafield.''

Mrs Winnie Ewing, the MEP for the Highlands and Islands, welcomed the

stance adopted by the council. ''I applaud this decision, and especially

the large majority by which it was taken, which reflects the widespread

and growing determination throughout the whole of Scotland to say 'no'

to Nirex,'' she said.

''Nuclear dumping was one of the central issues in the Highlands and

islands in last month's Euro elections, and I stand by my pledge to use

whatever means are necessary to stop Scotland being turned into a

nuclear dumping ground.''

UKAEA is carrying out the appraisal of the Dounreay site on behalf of

Nirex, and a spokesman at the Caithness plant said yesterday the

authority was disappointed by the decision. It will now consider

appealing to the Scottish Secretary to overturn the decision or order a

public inquiry.

A similar application to drill test bore holes at Sellafield was last

year rejected by Cumbria County Council. But British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.

appealed against the decision and the Environment Secretary overruled

the council last March and the exploratory work is now going ahead.

Mr James Wallace, Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, said yesterday

that if there was to be a public inquiry into the Nirex application the

objectors should receive public funding, possibly on condition they

united under one umbrella organisation.

He also attacked Mr Malcolm Rifkind for excessive delay in publishing

his decision on the nuclear industry's application to site the European

Demonstration Re-processing Plant at Dounreay.

He said the Reporter's report had been on Mr Rifkind's desk for 15

months. He added: ''If there is to be another public inquiry, Mr Rifkind

must restore public confidence in the system and give assurances that

the report will not disapppear into some black hole in the Scottish

Office.''