§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the current dose limits and radiation protection standards applied to nuclear industry workers in the United Kingdom and other European Community countries; and what information he has on the reasons for any differences in the limits and standards.
§ Mr. ForthCommon dose limits and radiation protection standards apply to all workers, including those in the nuclear industry, who work with ionising radiation across the European Community. The directive that sets these standards, European Community directive 80/836/EURATOM as amended by 84/467/EURATOM, is implemented in the United Kingdom by the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985 and the mirror Northern Ireland legislation.
The Health and Safety Commission has recently published part 4 of the approved code of practice supporting IRR 85 which contains additional guidance on restriction of exposure, but no change of statutory dose limit, to take account of recent revisions of the risk estimates from exposure to ionising radiation. This is an interim measure, pending revision of the European Community directive and subsequent revision of IRR 85 over the next few years.
I cannot comment on the reasons other member states may have for introducing different limits in advance of a revised directive.