Radioactive contamination of Dalgety Bay beach does pose a potential risk to public health, a report has found.
The Scottish Government has now been urged to build an offshore barrier at Dalgety Bay to prevent more particles from being washed up.
The report by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) concluded there is unlikely to be a link between cancer rates and radiation at the beach, but said there could be risks through skin contact or ingestion.
Further work is needed to determine the significance of such a risk, it said.
COMARE has called for a comprehensive list of other potentially contaminated sites across the UK, saying it was “unacceptable” that one is not available.
The Courier revealed last week the report would uncover the need for more warning signs, cancer checks and an immediate clean-up of dangerous waste.
Local MP Gordon Brown claimed the UK Government knew months ago they should be putting up signs across extensive areas at Dalgety Bay but had “suppressed” the report.
COMARE said current monitoring equipment was not good enough for detection of radiation and that the programme to identify and remove particles was not sustainable in the long term.
Adding that contamination would spread if nothing was done, the report says: “Failure to take action to implement an engineered solution will prolong the situation…”
Periodic reviews of the dose rate will take place and cancer rates should be reviewed in five to 10 years.
Mr Brown called for an assurance that all actions recommended in the report would be taken immediately.
The chairman of Dalgety Bay Community Council, Colin McPhail, said: “Just get on with it and get it sorted. It’s now 24 years since this was first discovered.
“Next year is Dalgety Bay’s golden jubilee so almost half the time of this town’s existence has been spent dealing with this issue.”
A UK Government spokeswoman said: “The advice from Public Health England, formerly the Health Protection Agency, has consistently been and … continues to be that the risk to the local community at Dalgety Bay from the presence of radium is very low.
“A report setting out remediation options was published earlier this year and next month the MoD will publish a long-term solution for the bay, setting out how all parties can best manage the site in the future.”