§ Mr. Bruceasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what the levels of background radiation for each county have been on a daily basis; and what are normal background radiation levels, from the period when the fallout from Chernobyl first reached England and Wales to the latest available date.
§ Mrs. RumboldNormal background radiation in the United Kingdom varies between 0.1 and 0.3 micro-Sieverts per hour. Radionuclides such as the isotopes of iodine and caesium would not normally be present. Since Friday 2 May samples have been taken regularly at monitoring stations throughout the United Kingdom and daily bulletins have been issued by the NRPB after consultation with Government Departments. Because this information is so bulky it is being made available through the press offices in my Department, the Department of Health and Social Security and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.