Around 500 tonnes of radioactive waste from the Olympic Park in London has been dumped in a Cambridgeshire landfill site.
A permit was not required as the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) took advantage of an exemption order which allows it to bury waste with low levels of radioactivity.
The waste was shipped by a 23 lorry convoy along a pre-arranged route to the Thornhaugh landfill site (under strict instruction not to stop for a break). Site operator, Augean, said in a statement, "Because of the negligible level of radioactivity involved, the waste was assessed as being exempt from the requirement for a permit under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993."
The rules were changed in 2007 to allow such material to be put into landfill sites, subject to Environment Agency and, where necessary, local planning authority permission. The new rules provide that disposals will not be authorised unless the authorities are satisfied that public radiation exposures are below a ‘dose constraint’ of 0.3 millisieverts (mSv2) per year. In most cases they would be expected to be no greater than 0.02 mSv per year (average UK doses from all sources, including natural background and medical exposures are about 2.6 mSv per year).
Nonetheless, local residents have expressed concerns that not enough is known about the long-term impact of dumping this type of waste. Clare Langan said, "Far from being Nimbys, residents have deep-seated and well-founded fears about the prospect of radioactive waste being dumped on their communities. The fact the waste may be officially classified as low-level certainly doesn't mean that it is harmless."
Moreover, she added that residents had not been informed that waste was being sent to the Thornhaugh site.
The ODA insist the waste poses no threat. A spokesman said, "Testing showed the material was 'exempt' under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993, with results showing levels which were at the lower end of the 'exempt' waste.”
