§ Mr. Coombsasked the Secretary of State for Energy what information he has on the volume of uranium and uranium by-products released into the atmosphere by the processes of coal-burning power stations; what is the resulting level of radiation; and how these compare with the level of emissions from nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. GoodladThe National Radiological Protection Board and the Central Electricity Generating Board have estimated that radioactive emissions to the atmosphere from United Kingdom coal-fired power stations clue to uranium, thorium and potassium amount to about 100 giga-bacquerels pergigawatt-year of electricity generated. The collective committed effective dose equivalent for the United Kingdom population from United Kingdom coal-fired power stations in 1983–84 — which supplied 21.3 gigawatt-years of electricity — was about 100 mansieverts. The atmospheric emissions from nuclear power stations — which supplied 4.6 gigawatt-years—gave a collective dose of about 10 mansieverts. For comparison, the annual collective dose from the natural background is 100,000 mansieverts. The radiation dose from all normal operations of the nuclear industry, including fuel reprocessing, amounts to only about one part in a thousand of the natural background.