§ Mr. LivingstoneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what research has been carried out with radioactive substances at the nuclear, biological and chemical centre at Winterbourne Gunner in Wiltshire since 1967; if service personnel have been exposed to radioactive substance(a) intentionally and (b) accidentally during this work; what radioactive substances were involved in this work; for what purposes this work was carried out; and what the results of this work were. [6359]
§ Mr. SpellarThe Defence Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Centre at Winterbourne Gunner does not conduct research with radioactive substances and available records show no evidence that such research has528W ever been conducted there. However, DNBCC does conduct training courses in NBC defence involving the use of low-level radioactive sources. Available records show that, during such training, no service personnel have been intentionally or accidentally exposed to radioactive sources, but that six personnel stationed at DNBCC at various times received small doses of radiation as a consequence of working with ionising radiation. In all cases, these were well within prescribed safe limits. The radioactive substances used at DNBCC are: tritium(H-3), cobalt-60, caesium-137, radium-226, chlorine-36, strontium-90 and nickel-63.