A campaign group has raised new concerns about the movement of waste materials from Dounreay by rail after major flooding in Cumbria.
Spent “exotic fuels” are being moved from the Caithness site to Sellafield in the north of England by rail, as part of the decommissioning process.
The first of a series of loads of unirradiated plutonium fuel from Dounreay’s Prototype Fast Reactor arrived at Sellafield last Monday.
Around 13 tonnes is due to be moved between the north of Scotland and Sellafield over the next few years.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said the operation had gone “safely and securely”.
But Cumbria-based campaign group, Core, condemned the decision to go ahead with the movement of the fuel after extensive flooding across Scotland and particularly in the north-west of England.
The campaigners said the train journeys had the potential to compromise public safety.
Core spokesman Martin Forwood said: “It beggars belief that the decision to risk the plutonium fuel transport was taken despite the widely-trailed storm evidence and rail warnings.
“We condemn the perverse decision as being dangerously irresponsible and as a blatant breach of the stringent safety and security rules required for such transports.
“Those responsible have shown a level of incompetence that verges on criminal and should be weeded out, so that public and rail safety is not similarly endangered again.
“If any public confidence at all in such transports is to be salvaged, answers on the decisionmaking process must be given and lessons learned.”
The unirradiated plutonium is the latest fuel to be removed from Dounreay as part of a decommisioning program which started in 2001 when the site was closed.
Alex Anderson, DSRL’s director of operations for transport, said: “Every fuel move requires a great deal of preparation and co-ordination across the industry, regulators, government and police.
“I’m very grateful to everyone who played their part in delivering this first consignment safely and securely, without harm.”