§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the latest available figures showing the effects of sea dumping of nuclear wastes on the marine environment, particularly on the ocean floor; and what effect this is having on living forms.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithThe latest published information on the effects of sea dumping of nuclear wastes in the Atlantic of which I am aware and which is readily accessible is contained in:
- (1) the "Review of the suitability of the dumping site for radioactive waste in the North-East Atlantic" published by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 1980;
- (2) the results of a co-ordinated research programme undertaken by a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, in preparation for the next site review in 1984 and published this year by Nuclear Energy Agency;
- (3) the section on the dumping of radioactive wastes in the Atlantic contained in the annual report "Radioactivity in Surface and Coastal Waters of the British Isles", published by my Department in 1982 and the more detailed scientific paper to which that section of the report refers.
A copy of my Department's report is already available but I will be placing copies of the other sources in the Library of the House.
The evidence, contained in the scientific studies of the north-east Atlantic dump site and obtained from mathematical modelling which are based on the most adverse assumptions, indicates that the dumping programme adds only minimally to the radioactivity already present from natural sources and from fallout and 145W has no significant effect on populations of marine organisms or on the marine environment generally. Work undertaken by my Department found that none of the Caesium-137 in fish in the area of the dump site, including samples taken from near the deep ocean floor, was attributable to the dumping operation.