THE NUCLEAR complex at Dounreay has been reprimanded by the UK government's safety watchdog for breaking the rules when importing radioactive waste from France.

More than seven tonnes of irradiated uranium oxide was shipped to the Caithness plant in June. But its operator, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), "forgot" to ask permission from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII).

The revelation comes from the NII's latest report to the Dounreay Stakeholder Group, involving local people. "Receipt of this fuel was in breach of Dounreay Licence Instrument No 47," it says.

This rule was imposed in 1997 and requires the UKAEA to gain the NII's agreement before it imports any irradiated material. The NII has now written to the UKAEA formally warning it not to break the rule again.

According to Pete Roche, a nuclear consultant based in Edinburgh, such errors should not be allowed to happen. "Nuclear materials can be much too dangerous for mistakes," he said.

"The NII should report it to the procurator fiscal."

The uranium oxide was manufactured for the UKAEA's now-defunct fast breeder reactor research programme at Dounreay. It was irradiated in a reactor at Winfrith in Dorset and then exported to France under a collaborative European programme in 1989.

It has long been agreed the material should be returned to Dounreay, and it was listed as part of the site's radioactive legacy in 2000. It will now be disposed of as waste.

The UKAEA admitted yesterday to a "procedural glitch". The uranium was transported safely and in full compliance with normal procedures, a spokesman said. "But we have acknowledged the site did not comply with an additional control imposed by the NII in 1997 at a time when there was great concern about the use of Dounreay's facilities for commercial fuel work," the spokesman added.

A spokesman for the NII confirmed the UKAEA had been reminded that no irradiated fuel should be brought on to the site without its agreement. "UKAEA has acknowledged the oversight," he said.