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I remember hearing about this when i was growing up in Caithness. Think it happened back in 97-99. I managed to track down an article about it .
THREE monster cod weighing 25lb each stunned workmen at a nuclear plant.
The beasts of the deep emerged when the workers drained a man-made pool of seawater used to cool a reactor at Dounreay, in Caithness.
They were up to five times the size of cod normally caught by trawlers in Scots waters nowadays.
And their size sparked fears they were mutant monsters created by radiation.
But experts said yesterday the three fish had grown so big from living the good life in the 17ft deep pool, with warm water and an absence of predators.
The fish were found as the workmen tore down a pumping house at Dounreay's defunct prototype fast reactor.
Dounreay spokeswoman Lynn Staples-Scott said they seemed to have survived for years and had grown up in the pool after entering through a three-inch grille when they were youngsters.
She said: "It seems they have been quite lucky to have their own private pool, and have been able to grow to quite a size while safely away from the trawlers."
Professor James Muir, of Stirling University's Aqua Department, said: "We haven't seen cod this size for years and years because stocks have been over-fished.
"The temperature of the water in the pool will also have had a major effect. Fish are cold-blooded and when you warm them up, their metabolism increases. Cod will accelerate their growth in warm water.
"Nuclear contamination will have nothing to do with their growth. It is simply because they found somewhere warm and safe."
The demolition of the pumphouse, unused since the shut-down of the reactor in 1994, is part of a pounds 5billion decommissioning programme at Dounreay.
Meanwhile, anyone hoping for a tasty supper from the Codzillas or other fish from the pool - including plaice, pollock, catfish, gurnard, ling, lobsters, crabs and prawns - is in for a disappointment.
Dounreay's operators insist that the fish in the pool were not contaminated by radiation. But none of them can be eaten.
A huge no-fishing zone surrounds the notorious nuclear complex.
The Government imposed the ban after hundreds of radioactive fragments of spent nuclear fuel were discovered on the foreshore and undersea sand banks adjacent to the plant.
THREE monster cod weighing 25lb each stunned workmen at a nuclear plant.
The beasts of the deep emerged when the workers drained a man-made pool of seawater used to cool a reactor at Dounreay, in Caithness.
They were up to five times the size of cod normally caught by trawlers in Scots waters nowadays.
And their size sparked fears they were mutant monsters created by radiation.
But experts said yesterday the three fish had grown so big from living the good life in the 17ft deep pool, with warm water and an absence of predators.
The fish were found as the workmen tore down a pumping house at Dounreay's defunct prototype fast reactor.
Dounreay spokeswoman Lynn Staples-Scott said they seemed to have survived for years and had grown up in the pool after entering through a three-inch grille when they were youngsters.
She said: "It seems they have been quite lucky to have their own private pool, and have been able to grow to quite a size while safely away from the trawlers."
Professor James Muir, of Stirling University's Aqua Department, said: "We haven't seen cod this size for years and years because stocks have been over-fished.
"The temperature of the water in the pool will also have had a major effect. Fish are cold-blooded and when you warm them up, their metabolism increases. Cod will accelerate their growth in warm water.
"Nuclear contamination will have nothing to do with their growth. It is simply because they found somewhere warm and safe."
The demolition of the pumphouse, unused since the shut-down of the reactor in 1994, is part of a pounds 5billion decommissioning programme at Dounreay.
Meanwhile, anyone hoping for a tasty supper from the Codzillas or other fish from the pool - including plaice, pollock, catfish, gurnard, ling, lobsters, crabs and prawns - is in for a disappointment.
Dounreay's operators insist that the fish in the pool were not contaminated by radiation. But none of them can be eaten.
A huge no-fishing zone surrounds the notorious nuclear complex.
The Government imposed the ban after hundreds of radioactive fragments of spent nuclear fuel were discovered on the foreshore and undersea sand banks adjacent to the plant.
FLOUNDER,DAB,COD,WHITING,BALLAN WRASSE,BASS,POLLOCK,LSD,LOBSTER
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