§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what data his Department has on radioactive contamination of the River Esk near Ravenglass, Cumbria, including by isotopes of Americium and caesium; how and by whom the monitoring is carried out; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonData obtained from my Department's monitoring work on radioactivity, including from isotopes of Americium and caesium, around the River Esk are published in aquatic environment monitoring reports which are available in the Library of the House. My Department also collects such data in respect of soils, grass and milk from the Ravenglass area, the results of which were summarised in a paper "The Science of the Total Environment" volume 35, pages 267–283 in 1984. Further data are published as the results of my Department's terrestrial environment monitoring programme which are available in the Library of the House. My Department also receives such data from British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) summaries of which are published by BNFL in reports entitled "Radioactive Discharges and Monitoring of the Environment" which are also available in the Library of the House.
I am satisfied, on the basis of this substantial monitoring work, that doses of radiation to members of the public in this area are well within the internationally required limits. My Ministry's monitoring shows that the dose to those few members of the public receiving the highest external exposure in 1987 in West Cumbria, allowing for the addition of dose from other pathways, was 0.11mSv as compared with the National Radiological Protection Board level of 0.5mSv per year.