Icelandic, Inuit, and Alaskan protests at plutonium flights through their airspace and US demands that the flasks be capable of withstanding its safety criteria forced the industry to change its plans. Many other radioactive materials are also regularly flown around the world - including medical isotopes, very small samples of spent fuel used in international inspection procedures and unirradiated fresh fuel. Dounreay regularly flies fresh fuel in and out of Wick airport. In a new development a helicopter was used at the end of May to transport unirradiated fresh fuel from Germany to Dounreay. Use of a helicopter for such a shipment is unknown before and while fresh, unirradiated fuel is much less toxic than irradiated fuel it still represents a health and environmental hazard.
Helicopters have a much poorer safety record than fixed-wing aircraft.
This would by-pass protests from environmental groups and local authorities at ports and along rail and road routes. Dounreay has denied the Observer report and insisted it will continue to use rail, sea and road transport for spent fuel. However there are few ports willing to allow such shipments and these could be closed because of safety concerns. Also, there is only one road and rail line to Dounreay which can be easily blocked by protesters. If these transport links are cut then flying spent fuel into Dounreay may be the only option, although the increased costs and public protests are likely to prove major obstacles.