HC Deb 08 November 1961 vol 648 cc63-4W
81. Mr. Mason

asked the Secretary of State for Air whether he has completed the building of the 1,500 monitoring stations designed to track the course and strength of radioactive clouds and fallout; and if he will now man them in an exercise with members of the Royal Observer Corps to detect the initial fallout of Iodine 131 and later the expected fall-out of Strontium 90.

Mr. J. Amery

Over 1,000 underground posts have been completed and a further 250 are under construction. The Royal Observer Corps is trained and equipped to track and measure radioactive fall-out in the event of a nuclear attack on this country. I do not consider an exercise of the sort the hon. Member suggests would be justified since the operational equipment of the Corps is not designed to monitor changes in the level of radioactivity expected to arise in peace for which other arrangements have been made.

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