§ 69. Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has on the average level of radiation exposure suffered by(a) Her Majesty's armed forces personnel, (b) Australian service men and (c) American service men and women during involvement in nuclear testing in the 1950s.
§ Mr. NeubertThe committed effective doses equivalent, in millisieverts per person, sustained on average by participants in the whole programme of overseas atmospheric nuclear tests and experiments conducted by the United Kingdom Ministry of Supply within the period 1952 to 1967 inclusive has been professionally assessed to be approximately as follows:
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All participants: Zero point four (0.4) Participants who were citizens of the United Kingdom: Zero point five (0.5) Participants who were members of Her Majesty's forces of the United Kingdom: Zero point four (0.4) Of which the division of work led to respectively on average:
Commissioned Officers: Two (2) Warrant Officers and other ranks: Zero point one five (0.15) Participants who were civilian citizens of the United Kingdom and supporting roles: Two point five (2.5) For comparison, individuals in the United Kingdom on average sustain in every year a dose of approximately 2.5 millisieverts from background radiations and radioactivity throughout their adult lives, and depending on location this level can be up to four or more times higher.
Details of the involvement of, and doses sustained by, citizens of other countries are matters for the Governments of the nations concerned.