HC Deb 28 March 1988 vol 130 cc286-7W
Mr. Foulkes

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will consider commissioning the Scottish universities research and reactor centre to undertake a full aerial survey of radioactivity in Scotland to determine the residual post-Chernobyl effects and other concentrations of radioactivity.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

Aerial surveying for deposited radioactivity is still at the development stage and is not yet proven or available for wider use. The widespread monitoring which was undertaken following the Chernobyl accident identified the areas of highest deposition and more detailed monitoring of the environment, livestock, crops and foodstuffs has been concentrated in those areas. The work is still continuing, and has shown that, except as regards sheep, radioactivity values, including those in soils, are well below levels at which action would be necessary.