§ Mr. Cashasked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the review of contingency plans following the Chernobyl accident.
§ The Prime MinisterThe first stage of a thorough review of existing emergency plans and procedures in the light of experience of the Chernobyl accident has now been completed by the Cabinet Office in consultation with the appropriate Government Departments and agencies concerned.
The existing plans are addressed specifically to an accident occurring within the United Kingdom and cover both the emergency procedures at the site and offsite arrangements to protect the public. They continue to provide a valid basis for the response to any nuclear accident in the United Kingdom. However, the Government have decided that planning needs to provide more specifically for the response to a nuclear accident outside the United Kingdom.
Detailed planning is now in hand. Among other things this will need to ensure nationwide monitoring coverage and, in the light of expert assessment of the results of monitoring, for the dissemination of appropriate advice and information to the general public. In the event of any future nuclear accident overseas affecting the United Kingdom the Secretary of State for the Environment will take the lead in co-ordinating Government action.
At the same time, the Government will continue to work with our international partners both in the 611W International Atomic Energy Agency and elsewhere to improve the arrangements for co-ordinated international action. In the meantime, the two recently signed International Atomic Energy Agency sponsored conventions should ensure earlier and more effective notification and dissemination of information than occurred in the case of the Chernobyl accident.
I shall make a further statement when the detailed planning now in hand has been completed and appropriate steps will be taken to make the new arrangements known to the public and to all the authorities concerned.