§ Mr. Frank Cookasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement giving the characteristics, constituent components and radio-activity in terms of total activity, concentration and inclusion of particulate matter, fission products, actinides, and fissile products and plutonium contained within the matter, discharged from Sellafield on 23 January, together with the total volume of the discharge, the rates of the discharge, and the times and duration of the discharge.
§ Mr. WaldegraveOn 23 January, 1,466m3 of low active liquid waste was discharged between 1230 hours and 1630 hours, at a rate of about 400m3 per hour. That discharge included the additional arisings from the malfunction in the uranium finishing plant. The total activity of material from that plant amounted to 9 GBq 68W corresponding to the purified uranium present which contained only trace quantities of fission products and plutonium. The U-235 fissile content of the uranium was 0.4 per cent., ie less than natural level. The uranium was present in the form of ammonium diuranate associated with ferric hydroxide as solids in suspension, and to the extent of 300 ppm by weight.