Labour launched a blistering attack on the SNP's anti-nuclear policy yesterday when Scottish Industry Minister Brian Wilson accused the Nationalists of being hypocrites spreading scare stories about Dounreay while denigrating the role of the plant's workforce and misleading the people.

Dounreay and its safety record have become a continuing political dogfight between Labour and the SNP after the recent row sparked by the secret deal between Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton to send highly enriched uranium to Scotland for safety from the Republic of Georgia. The Caithness plant's future looks increasingly likely to be a major issue of next year's Scottish Parliament elections.

Labour is still rattled at the way the SNP exploited Government embarrassment over how the Georgia deal was revealed - by the New York Times - and considers the SNP's anti-nuclear policies are impractical and vulnerable to scrutiny.

Mr Wilson returned to the Dounreay dispute yesterday when he challenged the SNP to explain its plans for safe disposal of Scotland's nuclear waste. He pointed out that Scotland is a net exporter of spent fuel, sending an average of 72 tonnes each year from Hunterston and Torness to BNFL at Sellafield. But the spent fuel from research on experimental reactors outside Scotland which could be reprocessed at Dounreay is only 10 tonnes a year, he said.

''It is obviously hypocritical to run scare stories about nuclear dumping in relation to Dounreay and at the same time remain silent about Scotland's only nuclear exports which are on a far larger scale.''

He challenged SNP leader Alex Salmond to say clearly what he proposed for Scotland's nuclear industry. ''How could he justify exporting Scotland's problem to what he intends should be a foreign country while at the same time running hysterical campaigns about Dounreay, even when Scotland's international obligations are involved?'' Mr Wilson asked.

He accused Mr Salmond of misleading the Scottish public over Dounreay's role on medical isotopes. ''He is quite happy to denigrate and deny the role of a Scottish workforce if it serves his own political cause.''

Demanding to know how Mr Salmond would dispose of Scotland's own nuclear waste, Mr Wilson said: ''Does he really want to take 'nimbyism ' to its logical conclusion rather than rely on the best available facilities in another part of the UK?''

Mr Salmond responded by accusing Mr Wilson of ''blustering under pressure'' after being caught out in a secret deal which highlighted ''enormous safety and security problems'' at Dounreay. He said the SNP had ''corrected'' New Labour spin involving misleading statements about isotopes.

He said SNP policy was clear and of long standing. ''We are opposed to the transportation and reprocessing of nuclear waste at Sellafield, Dounreay or anywhere else because it is a dirty and dangerous process which adds to the problem of proliferation of nuclear material and itself creates more nuclear waste.

''While scientific research is ongoing on the best way to deal with nuclear waste, the safest and most environmentally-sound policy is secure above-ground, on-site storage where the waste can be constantly monitored.''

Mr Salmond said Mr Wilson was out of touch with Scottish opinion and would soon be irrelevant to the Scottish debate. He was not standing for the Parliament and was reportedly heading for a new London-based job.