§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what monitoring programmes are in place to assess the health of present and former Royal Naval and MoD contracted personnel who have worked on nuclear submarine refits. [170230]
§ Mr. CaplinThe Ministry of Defence and its contractors carry out medical surveillance of radiation workers as required by Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999, Regulation 24. These regulations lay down monitoring and medical surveillance requirements for personnel while occupationally exposed to ionising radiation. The main purpose of medical surveillance is to determine an individual's fitness or continuing fitness for the intended work with ionising radiation. There is no mandatory requirement for a health monitoring programme for former personnel who have worked on nuclear submarine refits and I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Health on 15 December 2003,Official Report, column 785W to the hon. Member for Portsmouth, South (Mr. Hancock).
MOD and its contractors at the Royal Dockyards however, provide an independent counselling service for radiation workers, former radiation workers and their families who have concerns about their health consequent of their work with radiation.
Individuals may request counselling by telephoning the Counselling Telephone line (02392 768098) and leaving their names and addresses or by writing to the MOD Counselling Registry at DSTL Radiological Protection Services, Crescent Road, Alverstoke, Gosport, Hants, P012 2DL. Further details are available on the world wide web at: http://www.mod.uk/dsef/hp/rwc.htm.
§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what estimates have recently been made of the safety of levels of radiation regarded as acceptable when early generations of nuclear submarines were being refitted; and if he will authorise a new assessment; [170231]
(2) what assessment his Department has made of the likelihood that individuals involved in past nuclear submarine refits have (a) been exposed to cancer-causing levels of radiation and (b) developed cancer as a result. [170229]
1715W
§ Mr. IngramRadiation exposure is kept as low as reasonably practicable and within the dose limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) and specified in the United Kingdom legislation. Both the ICRP and UK regulations are regularly reviewed and updated. Therefore, there is no need for the Ministry of Defence to make its own assessment.
Those workers most exposed to ionising radiation, known as classified persons, have their exposure assessed using radiation dosimeters issued by an Approved Dosimetry Service and entered into their radiation dose record. The Ministry of Defence contributes its data on classified persons to the National Registry of Radiation Workers (NRRW) managed by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB). The NRRW data are used in epidemiological studies. In an analysis of the data, published in July 1999, the NRPB concluded that overall death rates among radiation workers are below those in the general population. The analysis contained 124,743 workers, of which about one third were Ministry of Defence radiation workers or former radiation workers. The NRPB is intending to undertaker the next analysis in 2005–06.