HC Deb 20 February 1963 vol 672 cc59-60W
Mr. Pavitt

asked the Secretary of State for Air what special precautions are taken to prevent accidents to the civilian population and to mitigate their consequences during overflights of aircraft carrying nuclear explosives.

Mr. H. Fraser

The design of nuclear weapons and the way they are carried in aircraft limit the dangers from an accident to an aircraft carrying nuclear explosives over this country. There is no danger of a nuclear explosion if the aircraft crashes; the risk from radiation, if any, would be small; contamination of the ground, if it existed at all, would be limited to the immediate vicinity of the crash. Royal Air Force special safety teams working with the civil police and fire services would arrive quickly to deal with any such accident.