If they're worried about Kinloss, maybe they should start looking around Lossie as well - the number of aircraft scrapped there were considerably more than at Kinloss. Apparently the fields around the base were a great place for all the local kids to play at being bomber pilots - complete with their own bombers!

Another good site would be RAF Edzell. My father delivered brand new Halifaxs there after the war to be broken up. When he was on 202 Sqn at Aldergove using Halifaxs for Met observation in the Atlantic they would fly to Dyce; send some airman down to Edzell to get some bits; and then fly back to Aldergrove

Beeline4, we could tell you, but then we'd need to kill you.

NutLoose - My mum worked at the Basingstoke plant (then Kelvins) in 1940-41, inspecting altimeters.

Unkind people have suggested that this explains a lot, but they generally STFU when I shoot gamma rays from my eyes and set their ties on fire.

Draken 55 shows, yet again, the appalling general public understanding of what his district council (if it's not been unified yet) actually does.

He's probably bought firmly into the myth (that so many PPRuNers subscribe to) that tea drinking and doing bugger all else sits high on their work day duties.

Doctor C

Until 1974 we had an efficient well run Unitary County Council for Ayrshire. It was abolished by the Conservative Government and replaced by a number of District Councils responsible for some functions with others becoming the responsibility of the Ayr Division of the huge Strathclyde Region.

In 1997 the District and Regional Council's were in turn abolished by the then Conservative Government. In Ayrshire they were replaced by three Unitary District Councils. Not long after, Devolution meant we got the Parliament in Edinburgh.

I am not questioning what needs to be done just where and how many it takes to do it! Is that so wrong?

BBC News - Findhorn sand dune radiation testing begins

How do you decontaminate as much real estate potentially, as bad as this without spending more money than it would cost to close the place?

?

Large parts of the WWII airfield were sold off after the war and other bits have been 'sliced' off since. The area closest to Findhorn was sold to the Findhorn Foundation - home to the local hippy and anti-nuclear community. I'm sure some lawyers will be preparing a case against the MoD for 'past actions' even as we speak. This issue would seem to underline why the MoD doesn't sell off bases anymore - the legislation requiring ALL contamination be removed from the land would make it too costly.

Rather like Greenwich (London) used to do.

Pity no-one told them about the baby reactor (for training engineers) in the Naval College! ......:E

:D:D:D:D:D

Far, far too many layers of self perpetuating bureaucratic non-sense in this country.

I hear it became all the brighter when you left.:ok:

Loved the place, little bit of heaven on Earth, especially for outdoor sports.

Wow ! Upset of Tumbridge Wells, you even managed to get a pop at the Scottish Government and SEPA out of this. Did somobody drop you on the head as a baby!:p

So the announcements that they're selling the airfield at Wyton are wrong then? In which case, why is there a survey team out there right now, drilling holes all over the airfield? :confused:

maybe the 'survey team' at Wyton are assessing the contamination prior to the actual sale? As this report says (Land Contamination: Technical Guidance on Special Sites: MoD Land R&D Technical Report P5-042/TR/01):

"Many MoD sites were closed and decommissioned to standards of the day which may not have been consistent with current standards. Such sites may still be within MoD ownership. Historically surveys were conducted which concentrated on live munitions on the surface, but such surveys may not have addressed fully the potential risks from residual raw materials or from buried munitions.
A survey of an Armament Depot revealed that the majority of process buildings had been closed without decommissioning the plant, which was found to be contaminated with explosive residues. Soils surrounding the process buildings were found to contain explosive residues. At the time of investigation, this site was in MoD ownership."

Wonder which dept picks up the bill for any clean-up :ugh:

In Scotland, there are only two, the Scottish Government, and the local Councils (All Unitary). I would argue that some of the councils are too small to be effective, but equally a lot of their functions (waste management, street lighthing etc) would not work if managed on a national basis.

Prior to the 76 reorganisation things were still two-tier (Lots of little Burgh councils doing things and duplicating management and admin).

As for SEPA, they do some of the functions that the EA do in England, but also a lot of the pollution and contamination things that are done by ~ 200 local Councils in England (Economies of scale again)

Anyway, back on topic, the problem with radium is when behind glass in instruments as it wasn't going to be ingested. It is especially hazardous when ingested/absorbed.as it accumulates in the bones.

Radium | Radiation Protection | US EPA

Guys no need to get in a tizzy about this it is all quite simple and regular. Before any agency (MoD, industrial or otherwise) ceases operations on a particular site and sells it on it has to undertake a process called remediation. Upon disposal the remediation certificate simply provides assurances that the land has been cleared of any toxic or harmful products or substances arising from its previous use. You would not want your son, grandson etc digging up an old bomb fuze while playing in the garden on the new housing estate now would you. So, all rather sensible in the end.

If Wyton has been sold and is currently in the hands of a developer then you will find its remediation process was rather straightforward with no real nasties being found. Simples!

TJ - no tizzy m8, it's just that Sandy P simply stated "...the MoD doesn't sell off bases anymore..." and I was querying that as a fact. Perhaps I could have done a clearer job of that. :\

The airfield at Wyton has not been sold, yet.

No worries fella, wasn't taking a dig sorry if it came across like that. From what I recall when I was down in those parts the Wyton airfield had alreday been partly sold/leased - lots of civil engineering sundries in storage or something on the airfield. What about the old HQ Logs site are the IPTs still in the pavillions?

TJ - most/all moved out AFAIK. The new Pathfinder building is very impressive though and a great aid for student/AEF pilots when trying to locate the airfield from afar. Lots of dark blue & camo green uniforms invading the place now too. At least they painted the 'berra so they wont replace it with a tank or something else similarly inappropriate & the mess has a nice set of aviation pictures in it still. :ok:

Airfield definitely not sold.....yet.