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UKAEA Dounreay today has sent to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and  the Food Standards Agency the findings of laboratory tests carried out on  rabbit  faeces  found  in an area of the site historically used for the burial of low-level waste.

The tests confirm the faeces were normal. No radioactivity above the normal background   level   was   detected  and  there  was  no  evidence  of  any contamination from the waste.

The  results  are  consistent  with  previous  findings  from regular tests carried out on rabbits found in other parts of the 140-acre licensed site.

Dounreay site director Peter Welsh said: "There is no evidence that rabbits are spreading radioactivity from the low-level waste and this is reinforced by  the  results  of  these  tests.  Nonetheless, we recognise that rabbits should  not  have  been  able to access this area in the first place and we have  now secured the area against further intrusion. We are also arranging a  cull  of  rabbits on the site and reviewing what measures may need to be taken to curb other wildlife."