Building sealed off over 'radioactive' packages

A building was sealed off in Edinburgh last night after several suspected radioactive packages were found inside. Emergency services placed a cordon around the Regent Language Training School in the West End after the discovery of the three small packages suspected of containing radioactive material. Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service were called to the incident at around 7pm and launched a joint operation with police. Eight fire engines and 28 fire service personnel attended the emergency in Chester Street. An inner cordon and an outer cordon were thrown up around the building, and radiation emergency procedures were followed, a fire service spokesman said. The operation involved the fire service and Lothian and Borders Police. The alarm was raised after the three small packages were found inside a cupboard as it was being cleaned. Marking on them indicated they contained radioactive materials. A fire service spokesman said he thought they had been there some time. Group manager Jim Fraser of Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said: "There are three small packages although we are uncertain at this time whether they contain a radioactive source for definite. "We do know they had been for a considerable time." He went on: "Somebody discovered them as they were cleaning out a cupboard." As is standard in the circumstances, he said, the fire service and police had launched a procedure called National Arrangements for Incidents Involving Radiation. Radiation experts were at the scene with monitoring equipment to test the packages, Mr Fraser said. He added he did not know how many people were in the building when the packages were found. Frank Smith, 53, of nearby street Manor Place, said between 15 and 20 emergency vehicles were at the scene. A 100-yard section of Chester Street had been closed off, and strong lights were being trained on the language school, he said. Uniformed fire brigade officers could be seen going in and out of the building, he said. "The emergency vehicles are an assortment of Scottish Ambulance Service, emergency response vehicles, fire engines and some police vehicles," he said. "All the vehicles you can see are outside the cordon. Whatever is of interest isn't particularly visible." He went on: "Whatever it is, they have mobilised a strong response and are controlling the situation. "There is no sense of alarm. The only drama is the large number of vehicles for what is normally a quiet spot." All entrances to the road were shut off, with police officers guarding the roadblocks. At least three fire engines were at the scene, aided by two Lothian and Borders fire trucks and an emergency support vehicle. The Scottish Ambulance Service special operations vehicle was also at the scene. Several police vehicles including a command unit van were also present. Dozens of crew members from all three emergency services were present in the street. A yellow contraption believed to be a decontamination shower, had been erected at one end of the cordon. The area contains a number of office buildings, but some local residents were spotted looking through their windows, observing the events. Group manager Steven Sansbury, of Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said a representative of Torness power station found two boxes containing "radioactive sources" which were believed to be school science lab materials dating back to 1994. But he explained that there was absolutely no contamination outside the containers. Mr Sansbury said the cordons were being removed and the Torness representative would now liaise with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) to dispose of the material safely. He said: "The representative from Torness power station has just informed me that there are two boxes within the building – one containing one radioactive source and one containing three radioactive sources. "These sources are sealed within the boxes and there is absolutely no contamination outwith the containers. "What his job now is to do is to put them inside a plastic bag, seal it, and he'll then liaise with Sepa about the safest way for disposal of these two boxes. "He thinks that they're ex-school science lab sources used for small experiments that we all did when we were at school, so there's no contamination so now we're just all going home." Mr Sansbury said a member of staff made the find which sparked tonight's events. "We believe an employee within the school found these samples in a cupboard and we believe they've been there since 1994," he said. "He saw that they were radioactive substances and then it all started off from there." Mr Sansbury said police rolled out a national plan of action for radiation incidents. He said: "We assume the worst case scenario and work back from that." He added: "The fire and rescue service got a call at approximately 1900 hours to say that there was a radiation incident in Chester Street. "The fire and rescue service arrived, we set up a decontamination and an inner and outer cordon and at that point we just stood back because it was a police control incident. "They instigated the national arrangements for incidents involving radiation". Mr Sansbury praised the way everybody involved worked together. He added: "It's a big example of inter-agency cooperation and everything went fine. "Had it been a bigger incident – thankfully it wasn't – everything was here ready to go."