THE shipbreaking firm poised to set up at Swansea's dry docks has assured the public it will not handle unsafe radioactive material.
Evidence submitted by Swansea Drydocks as part of last November's planning inquiry listed 21 materials the company had procedures in place to deal with, including radioactive material.
It hopes to attract a range of clients, including the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Swansea Drydocks' business development manager Viv Sloan said the reference to radioactive material related only to onboard equipment such as emergency signs and smoke detectors, which are sources of very low level radioactivity.
No vessel would be accepted in Swansea where radioactivity was above a certain threshold.
"This represents the level at which the material may be unconditionally exempted from the waste disposal provisions of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993," said Ms Sloan.
Swansea Drydocks is owned by Robert Shaw, an employee of national scrap metal firm, Dunn Brothers.
Rules on where ships are dismantled are being tightened, Swansea Drydocks said. Most are currently broken up in Bangladesh and India. This is set to change under an international treaty prohibiting the export of hazardous waste, which old ships are defined as, to developing countries. New ship recycling markets are thus emerging in Europe, with pressure on EU Governments to recycle naval vessels close to home.
In a letter to Swansea Drydocks seen by the Post, the MoD said it was "very impressed with the high standard of your plan".
Swansea Drydocks has said it will invest £4 million into the dry docks and create 85 jobs, including welders and demolition engineers. It also plans to repair ships, carry out hazardous material inventories, and use a company called Shield Environmental to deal with asbestos removal.
It has applied for an Environment Agency permit, and is set to move into the dry docks in April.
An agency spokesman said: "If we do issue a permit, it will make sure that any work they plan to do will be done in line with the highest environmental standards to protect the surrounding environment and local people.
"All materials from the site will be subject to the most stringent of rules on how they must be treated."
Source: By Richard Youle, richard.youle@swwmedia.co.uk. Tuesday, February 15, 2011,
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