§ Mr. HardyTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) if either the French Government or Electricite de France have informed him of any risk or failure at nuclear power stations situated on or near the northern coast of France;
(2) if he will consult both the French Government and Electricité de France to ensure that arrangements exist for notificaion in case of serious risk or failure at northern nuclear power stations in France;
(3) what discussions he has had with the French Government or with Electricité de France in regard to the safety of nuclear power stations that are close to the northern coast of France.
§ Mr. BaldryThere are continuing contacts between my officials and those of the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate and their French counterparts.
The nuclear installations inspectorate has an exchange of information arrangement with the French nuclear safety regulatory body—Service Central de Sureté des Installations Nucléaires (SCSIN)—which includes the exchange of safety-related information.
There is no reason to suppose that the standards of safety adopted by the French are any less rigorous than those applied in the United Kingdom.
Arrangements already exist, under a bilateral treaty with the French Government, for Her Majesty's Government to be notified of any accidental release of radioactivity from a 96W French nuclear installation. In addition, the French Government are a party to the early international notification arrangements established by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the European Community.
An independent means of detecting and monitoring any abnormal increases in environmental radioactivity of the kind which might stem from an overseas nuclear accident is provided by the radioactive incident monitoring network (RIMNET).