An oil platform has been evacuated after a ship carrying radioactive material caught fire and began drifting in the Moray Firth.
The Parida was transporting a cargo of concreted radioactive waste when a fire broke out in one of its two funnels.
The blaze has been extinguished, but 52 workers were taken from the Beatrice platform by helicopter as a precaution.
Aberdeen coastguard said the ship was under tow and was heading to the Cromarty Firth to secure anchor.
End Quote Richard Lochhead Environment SecretaryMost people, like me, may not be comfortable with the idea of a vessel carrying nuclear waste waiting for a weather window to sail through our waters"
The crew members of the Parida will then decide whether to attempt to restart the engine.
Ministers said the Scottish government was "closely monitoring" the incident.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited has confirmed the waste was from Dounreay, an experimental nuclear power plant near Thurso which is being decommissioned.
The material, which was sent to Dounreay from Belgium for reprocessing in the 1990s, was being shipped back to Belgium.
The coastguard were alerted at about 20:00 on Tuesday as the Danish registered Parida was taking a cargo of radioactive concrete from Scrabster to Antwerp in Belgium.
The platform staff were flown to RAF Lossiemouth shortly before midnight. Parida was about seven miles from the Moray Firth platform at the time.
Dounreay's nuclear waste
- In 2011, it was announced that more than 150 tonnes of intermediate level waste would be transported back to Belgium in 21 shipments over the next four years. The Belgian material had been at Dounreay for reprocessing, but is being returned because the Scottish site is being decommissioned and demolished.
- Also in 2011, bosses at Dounreay started discussion on the return of several hundred tonnes of waste to customers in Australia and Germany.
A Shetland Coastguard spokesman said: "The Parida is now under tow by the vessel Pacific Champion.
"The coastguard emergency towing vessel from Orkney was tasked to go and prevent the Parida from drifting but before the coastguard vessel arrived on scene the owners agreed a commercial tow with Pacific Champion."
There were no reports of any injuries.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said the Scottish government was "closely monitoring" the incident.
He said: "Most people, like me, may not be comfortable with the idea of a vessel carrying nuclear waste waiting for a weather window to sail through our waters.
"While these vessels are built to cope with extreme weather, if they break down they drift and that is a fact we have to think about here.
"It is a serious incident and I think we need to review how we regulate the transportation of nuclear waste in our waters. That is the responsibility of the Office of Nuclear Regulation and I will be speaking to UK ministers about it."
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