§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will calculate the changes made in the last five years in the officially estimated maximum amount of radiation which may be safely received from routine discharges from the nuclear power industry.
§ Mr. BaldryThe International Commission on Radiological Protection recommendation of 1977, as endorsed by the National Radiological Protection Board, advised that the average effective dose equivalent from all sources, excluding natural background radiation and medical procedures, to representative members of a critical group should not exceed 1 millisievert (mSv) in any one year. The National Radiological Protection Board in 1987 gave interim guidance that for exposure of the public arising from a single site, the effective dose equivalent should not exceed 0.5 mSv per year. The United Kingdom Government had, as stated in the White Paper Cmnd 9852 (1986), already adopted a 0.5 mSv per year level as a target in connection with authorised discharge limits. The Government are considering the consultative document "NRPB-M321, Board advise following publication of the 1990 recommendations of ICRP", issued today by the National Radiological Protection Board which recom-mends a reduction to 0.3 mSv.