Investigation after chemical incident at Dounreay
- Published
The incident happened in a facility associated with Dounreay's Prototype Fast Reactor building
A small amount of a radioactive material may have been released into the environment in an incident at the Dounreay nuclear power site.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said it was investigating, but the the public and environmental risk was "extremely low".
The release occurred during a chemical reaction in a storage tank.
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd said the incident happened during planned work at a sodium storage facility.
No-one was injured and damage was confined to components in the tank.
Dounreay, near Thurso, is in the process of being decommissioned.
'Low hazard'
Sepa was alerted to the incident just after midnight on Thursday.
It happened in an area associated with Dounreay's Prototype Fast Reactor building.
Sepa said the release of tritium may have occurred, but added the radioactive material posed "a low radiological hazard".
Tritium is naturally produced in small quantities in Earth's atmosphere.
Dr Paul Dale, of Sepa, said: "Whilst from initial information we consider the risk to the public or the environment to be extremely low, Sepa has launched a formal investigation."
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd, which has launched its own investigation, said: "We believe the environmental impact is low.
"Emergency personnel kept the tank under observation as a precaution."