Local authorities in Scotland are being asked to back a plan for a Soviet survey ship to measure radioactive and chemical pollution in Scottish coastal waters. Nuclear-Free Zones Scotland, which coordinates nuclear policy for most Scottish councils and which invited the ship, is frustrated by the slow speed at which British authorities deliver pollution figures. The organisation has asked Scottish councils to chip in to fund the £35 000 mission.
The Akademic Boris Petrov collects water and has five winches to scoop up sediment. Laboratories on board can give immediate figures for common contaminants and plot maps on demand. The plan at present is for the ship to sail from Leith, on the east coast, via the Shetland Islands, to Glasgow in the west. If there is enough interest from Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man, the ship will continue into the Irish Sea.
Local authorities in coastal areas ...
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