§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what dispersion modelling her Department has evaluated in respect of a breach of containment accident at the Sellafield high-activity liquid waste storage tanks, arising from(a) an earthquake, (b) a tank explosion and (c) a malicious attack. [47877]
§ Mr. BattleIt is not for the Department of Trade and Industry to evaluate the consequences of possible accidents at nuclear installations. The independent Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which is responsible for regulating safety at UK nuclear sites, has looked at all credible risks to safety associated with the storage of liquid High Level Waste (HLW) at the Sellafield site. HSE's views on this, including an assessment of the risks from earthquake and aircraft crash, as well as fire and explosion hazards, were set out in a report published in 637W December 1995 entitled "Safety of the Storage of Liquid High Level Waste (HLW) at BNFL Sellafield", a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
Strict security arrangements are in place at Sellafield to protect the site against malicious attack. These arrangements are kept under regular review.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to her answer to the hon. Member for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) of 24 June 1998,Official Report, column 500, if she will make a statement on the specific work being conducted on safety at Sellafield by the Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee; and what is Government policy on the public disclosure of papers or other documentary materials provided to NUSAC by nuclear operators. [48908]
§ Mr. BattleThe Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee (NuSAC) advises the President of the Board of Trade and the Health and Safety Commission. Its current programme of work includes several items related to the management of safety at Sellafield, specifically the storage of spent fuel, fuel production facilities, and the decommissioning of silos and ponds.
The public disclosure of NuSAC papers and other material passed to NuSAC is governed by statutory requirements. Release of environmental information is governed by the Environmental Information Regulations 1992. Any information supplied to NuSAC which was obtained through the exercise of regulatory powers conferred under the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974, is covered by the restrictions on disclosure provided for in Section 28 of that Act. Section 28 places restrictions on the disclosure of regulatory information, but also provides for exceptions to these restrictions. For example, HSE has the power to make regulatory information public at any time if it believes that this is necessary to discharge its statutory functions to protect the health and safety of workers and the public. NuSAC publishes a biennial report and regularly reports on specific areas of its work.