§ Mr. LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what further radiation checks have been carried out on Royal Navy sailors and personnel exposed to nuclear weapons and reactors; and what were the findings.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonMedical records of all naval personnel are analysed annually, and any health trends are identified. There have been no special surveys to determine whether there is any evidence of medical disorders arising from exposure of Royal Navy nuclear submarine personnel to radiation. However, routine medical surveillance is carried out for those Royal Naval personnel designated as radiation workers in accordance with the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985.
Radiation dose records are kept for RN radiation workers, and statistics of doses received were published in the replies I gave to the hon. Member for St. Helens, North (Mr. Evans) on 20 March at columns 477–8 and on 2 May at columns 61–2 this year.
Regular radiation surveys are carried out on board nuclear-powered submarines to ensure that personnel not designated as radiation workers do not receive any significant radiation doses.