§ Mr. Richard Pageasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the levels of radioactivity in waste currently discharged into the Irish Sea for the last five years; and what are the legal limits.
§ Mr. ShoreThe main discharges to the Irish Sea are from the reprocessing works of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. at Wind-scale, Cumbria. The main limits are on the total discharges of alpha and beta emitting isotopes: the authorised levels and the proportions of them represented by discharges over the last five years reported by BNFL are as follows:—
I am advised that the discharges for 1976 to date are also within the authorisation. In addition, there are discharges of tritium which are not included in the authorisation because of their negligible significance.
The next largest discharges of waste into the Irish Sea are the nuclear power stations at Wylfa in Anglesey and Chapel Cross in Dumfriesshire and BNFL's 721W uranium plant at Springfields, Lancashire. Their total discharges are only some 300 curies a year. This figure represents a small percentage of their authorised limits. Total discharges from other minor users such as industry, hospitals and universities represent a still smaller amount.