§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the extent of current research into the potential health hazards posed by the insoluble hot plutonium particle; and if, in view of Great Britain's increasing involvement in nuclear waste reprocessing, he intends to increase the level of research work in this sphere.
§ Dr. OwenI have been asked to reply.
The potential health hazards of plutonium have long been recognised and extensive programmes concerned with all aspects of the toxicity of this material, including the hot particle problem, have been in progress for some years at the National Radiological Protection Board and the Medical Research Council's Radiobiology Unit. The latter is particularly concerned with the biological effects. The level of this work has increased considerably over the past few years and is kept under review. An MRC report, "The Toxicity of Plutonium", published by HMSO in 1975, examined the hot particle theory. The broad conclusions were that the safety levels set for plutonium are of the right order in relation to other radiation hazards, although some small adjustments might be necessary.