§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the monitoring systems he has put in place to check the levels of depleted uranium entering the ground water and food chain from the use of munitions containing depleted uranium at Eskmeals and Kirkcudbright training areas. [43415]
§ Dr. MoonieComprehensive environmental monitoring programmes have been in place at both Eskmeals and Kirkcudbright ever since the beginning of the DU munitions trials announced in the House in 1979. These programmes have focused on the collection and analysis of samples of soil, vegetation, freshwater, seawater, seaweed, molluscs and seabed and shoreline sediments. Faecal samples from domestic and wild animals have also been collected on an opportunity basis. This monitoring continues to show that DU does not pose a significant risk to members of the public or site personnel.
Other Government Departments with statutory health and safety and environmental protection responsibilities were consulted while these programmes were being established, and their successors, principally the Environment Agency and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, continue to be advised of the nature and results of the monitoring activities. The local councils also 313W receive copies of the annual environmental monitoring reports for both sites. The Ministry of Defence also made a commitment on 13 May 1998, Official Report, columns 128-29W, to continue these monitoring activities for as long as the regulatory authorities consider necessary.
§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what clean up operations he has put in place on the Crown Estate relating to the use of munitions containing depleted uranium. [43422]
§ Dr. MoonieAs Eskmeals, depleted uranium (DU) rounds have been fired against hard targets and the resulting DU fragments and contaminated debris have been collected after each firing. The material has then been sent for disposal at the low-level radioactive waste repository at Drigg. Air filters from the target area have also been disposed of via this route. Some higher activity material, such as DU plate, which is not suitable for disposal at Drigg, remains in storage pending a national decision on future radioactive waste disposal strategies. Some steel targets contaminated with very low levels of DU are still stored at the site and options for the disposal of this material are currently being discussed with the Environment Agency.
At Kirkudbright, the trials require the DU rounds to be fired through very soft targets (such as hessian sheets) and to travel out to sea. In this case, remediation is required only if an experimental round malfunctions and contaminates the range area. When such impact points have been located, samples of soil and vegetation have been collected to assess the degree of contamination: clean-up is then carried out if pre-set action levels have been exceeded. Specially marked drums have been kept at each firing point for storing contaminated material and the Radiation Protection Adviser has provided disposal advice on a case-by-case basis.
At West Freugh, a small number of DU projectiles, weighing less than 25kg in total, were fired into the sea 2km below the low-water mark. There are no records of any DU projectiles accidentally striking the land in the region. The small number of DU rounds in the sea were not considered to pose a hazard which would warrant a clean-up operation.
Foulness had an indoor facility, in which small experimental DU projectiles were fired between 1982 and 1983. The building was designed to prevent any escape of particulate DU into the atmosphere. It is no longer in use and was decontaminated in 1997.
§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the conclusions of the Royal Society report on the health effects of depleted uranium munitions; and if he will make a statement. [44038]
§ Dr. MoonieWe welcome the publication of part II of the Royal Society report which is a valuable addition to the scientific knowledge on the risks from depleted uranium (DU) munitions.
Overall, the report?s conclusions are very much in line with the Ministry of Defence?s assessment that the risks DU poses to the health of UK Gulf veterans, peacekeepers in the Balkans and UK forces/civilians in current and future conflicts, are very low, in all but extreme cases. This is what we have always believed, and bears out the 314W findings of research carried out by organisations such as the United Nations and World Health Organisation as well as ourselves.
The extreme circumstances mentioned in the report could affect individuals such as the crew of a vehicle that had been hit by a DU round or personnel who had worked for long periods, unprotected, in a vehicle which had been hit. I am pleased to say that no UK service personnel have been exposed in this way.
Nevertheless, there are a number of areas where we believe that further research is desirable to enhance the database on which to make judgments weighing the potential loss of life arising from not using DU munitions in battle against any potential longer term impact on human health and the environment resulting from its use. On 14 March 2002, I released details of the MOD research programme which contains elements that address this subject. The full details of our proposals have been placed in the Library of the House. They have also been published on the MOD website.