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Campaigners are calling for safety assurances after it emerged a large quantity of radioactive waste is being sent to Teesside for disposal.

Fuel giant Shell wants to bring lorry-loads of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material - or NORM - to a landfill at Port Clarence .

The firm says Teesside is "one of the very few" places in the UK that can handle such material safely .

Around 100 tonnes will arrive by road for disposal at a specialist site operated by industrial waste disposal firm Augean.

Friends of the Earth has called for communities along the route to be made aware of what emergency plans are in place, including any potential accident during transport.

Augean says the NORM, from an old oil platform which is being cleaned and dismantled in Dundee, carries waste with a very low activity range.

Augean at Port Clarence is said to operate "one of the very few landfill facilities in the UK" capable of safely receiving and disposing of NORM.

(Image: Google)

A spokesperson for Augean said: "During the decommissioning process, pipes and tanks will be cleaned before being sent for re-use or recycling.

"Some of the material likely to be removed will be classified as Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM).

"The material is from naturally occurring rocks and stones.

"The radiation levels of the material are often little more than the background levels of radiation that are present in the natural environment but it still needs to be managed properly.

"The NORM that will arrive at Port Clarence is exempt from specific radioactive waste licensing and is disposed under the standard environmental permitting system."

The spokesperson added: "Port Clarence with its specialist infrastructure together with a trained and experienced workforce is a highly suitable site for the disposal of such wastes because of the excellent level of protection it affords to people and the environment."

(Image: Ian Cooper / Teesside Live)

But Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, warned there could be risks to the public as well as workers at the yard if not handled properly.

He said: “NORM does need to be treated carefully.

"As well as needing to make sure that workers at the yard are safe, there is also the risk of an accident during transport.

“If the radioactive waste is being taken by road for disposal on Teesside, the communities along the route will want to know how this will be done with maximum safety and what emergency plans are in place.”

It is not the first radioactive material to be buried at the site.

In 2011 hundreds of tonnes of material cleared up after atomic bomb blasts on Christmas Island, in the South Pacific in the 1950s was disposed at the landfill site.

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