WEST FIFE politicians have expressed their frustration after decades of delays in dealing with radioactive waste in West Fife.

A National Audit Office report last week revealed that the Ministry of Defence has not disposed of any of its nuclear submarines decommissioned since 1980, with seven still in storage at Rosyth.

The news came in the same week the MoD revealed at Dalgety Bay Community Council that they had been unable to progress plans for remediation of a beach contaminated with radioactive waste due to waiting almost a year for ministerial approval to finance the project.

Between 2012-2015, a consultation process took place bringing in various stakeholders, including Fife Council, to try to resolve many of the contentious issues to dismantle the nukes.

It was decided that the reactor pressure vessels would be ‘cut out’ of the submarines and then transported safely by road for interim storage at the Urenco nuclear site at Capenhurst in Cheshire but no intermediate level radioactive waste has yet been sent there from Rosyth.

In March, it was reported that the MoD were in discussion with nuclear regulators on a potential change to this policy but no direct communication has been provided to Fife Council or other key stakeholders.

Dunfermline and West Fife MP Douglas Chapman said: “Following the damning National Audit Office report on submarine dismantling published earlier this week, our West Fife councillors have uncovered another aspect of UK MoD lack of interest in safeguarding Scotland and Fife in particular.

"I will be submitting a series of questions in parliament which I hope will get to the bottom of these issues which affect Dalgety Bay and West Fife.”

Councillor Alice McGarry, convener of the South West Fife area committee, explained: “I sought and received assurances from the MoD at various meetings during the consultation process that no waste from the demonstrator or subsequent projects would be stored in the AWAF facility or elsewhere at Rosyth and that it would be removed from site.

“There would have been huge opposition to the demonstrator project had these assurances not been given.

“To renege on this is simply not acceptable and the whole issue needs to go back out to consultation.”

Green MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Mark Ruskell, has said the storage of nuclear submarines at Rosyth is standing in the way of future jobs.

Mr Ruskell said: “Not only are these nukes draining the public purse and providing ongoing safety concerns for the local community, but they stand in the way of building a sustainable future for the Rosyth dockyard.

“We were sold these submarines on the promise of jobs for West Fife but clearly this is not the decommissioning bonanza we expected. If the MoD can’t come up with the funds to complete the work, they can park their nuclear subs elsewhere.”

Frustration with the MoD comes amid further delays to the clean-up of Dalgety Bay’s coastline, where radioactive particles were first discovered at the headland near Dalgety Bay Sailing Club as early as 1990.

The MoD told the community recently that they were still awaiting ministerial approval to go to tender for the remediation work and had noted that, without approval, timescales may slip to 2021.

This comes despite reassurances given earlier this year that the project was on track.

Cllr David Barratt added: “It’s extremely disappointing that an entirely avoidable delay has occurred at Dalgety Bay and even more frustrating that uncertainty persists while the government minister sits on the decision. On top of the uncertainty with Rosyth, it is becoming increasingly clear that Brexit is not the only thing the UK government lacks a credible plan for.”