§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received from(a) Members of Parliament, (b) representatives from other parliaments and assemblies and (c) Ministers from other Governments, in respect of the dangers posed by the operation of Sellafield, in each month since January 1999; and what response he has made. [120712]
§ Mrs. LiddellMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has received a number of representations by correspondence, Parliamentary Question or in person in relation to the safety of operations at Sellafield. Each has been carefully considered and appropriate responses, addressing the issues raised, have been provided. The table lists the representations made since January 1999. In the case of Parliamentary Questions, the responses were of course published inHansard.
(a) Members of Parliament (c) Ministers from other Governments January 1999 0 0 February 1999 2 0 March 1999 0 0 April 1999 0 0 May 1999 0 1 June 1999 0 0 July 1999 1 0 August 1999 1 0 September 1999 1 0 October 1999 1 0 November 1999 2 0 December 1999 0 0 January 2000 1 0 February 2000 2 2 March 2000 5 1 April 2000 0 0 Note:
There have been no representations from public representatives from the Scottish Parliament or Welsh Assembly (b).
§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessments have been undertaken by(a) his Department and (b) the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate/Health and Safety Executive of the (i) accident risk and (ii) accident consequences of the operation of Sellafield since May 1997. [120713]
§ Mrs. LiddellIt is for the licensee of a nuclear site—BNFL in the case of Sellafield—to assess both the accident risk and potential accident consequences of its operations as part of a comprehensive safety case for each operation. This information must be updated with changing circumstances. As required under the terms of282W the Sellafield site licence conditions these safety cases are presented to the Site Nuclear Safety Committee, which includes independent members.
The role of HSE is to analyse these safety cases in detail to verify that they are sound. Regular on-site inspections by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) seek to confirm that the limits and conditions contained in the safety cases are complied with in the plant at all times. HSE/NII publishes information about its assessments of particular plant from time to time; a recent example is its report "The storage of liquid high level waste at BNFL, Sellafield", which deals with the B215 complex which includes the highly active liquor tanks.
The Department of Trade and Industry has no role in this independent regulatory process.