Radioactive particles found on Dalgety Bay near Edinburgh pose "significant risk" to the public, warns Scotland's environmental regulator.

Warning signs have been erected on a beach in Dalgety Bay, a coastal town with a population 10,030 which functions largely as a commuter suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scotland’s environmental regulator, detected the radioactive objects in September and they are believed to come from WWII bomber planes that were dumped in the area after the war.

SEPA, which briefed the Scottish Government and the UK Ministry of Defence, threatened to close the "radioactive contaminated land" if the area is not cleaned up.

The environment agency says the radioactive particles are being increasingly exposed as the land erodes and pose a "significant risk" to the public.

Dangerous radiation levels have been found on the shoreline of Dalgety Bay since the 1990s, but the latests findings have had much higher radioactive levels than anything previously discovered at the beach.