§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he can now state the number of accidents which have taken place at Windscale since it first came into production.
§ Mr. BennI am advised that, prior to April 1971, two incidents were reported by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority to the responsible Minister under a direction requiring the reporting of incidents given by the Lord President of the Council dated 31st January 1957, and a further direction on safety requirements by the Minister for Science dated 1st April 1960. When British Nuclear Fuels Ltd took over responsibility for the Windscale works in April 1971, the site became subject to licensing under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965. Under this Act reporting requirements are defined in the Nuclear Installations (Dangerous Occurrences) Regulations 1965 and in the conditions attached to the nuclear site licences. No reports in respect of Windscale have been made under the regulations. Twenty-five incidents have been reported to the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate under the licence conditions, which cover a wide range of incidents of lesser significance than those reportable under either the regulations or the directions referred to above. The incidents reported under the licence conditions involved cases of contamination and radiation exposure which exceeded prescribed levels. None of them is believed to have caused any significant risk of harm to any person. I have given instructions that in future I shall be immediately informed when incidents, however apparently insignificant, occur on nuclear installations for which I am answerable to the House.