§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane) of 10 June,Official Report, column 409, if he will set out the basis for the statement that in the event of an aircraft accident mixed oxide nuclear fuel poses no significant risk to public health. [4375]
§ Ms Glenda JacksonMy statement was based upon the conclusions of the Advisory Committee on the Transport of Radioactive Materials (ACTRAM) an independent body charged with advising the Secretary of State for Transport and the Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission on major issues related to the transport of radioactive material and on the robustness of the containers used.
In its report, The Transport of Civil Plutonium by Air, published in 1988, ACTRAM concluded: (14.2)
The health risk to people from the current transport of civil plutonium by air to and from the UK is [also] extremely remote and acceptable.Bearing in mind that the major hazard of plutonium is one of inhalation, its comments specifically on Mox fuel are particularly relevant: (14.3)
Plutonium dioxide mixed with Uranium dioxide in the form of ceramic pellets constitutes no significant inhalation hazard.A copy of ACTRAM's report is available in the Library.