§ Mr. Simon CoombsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the present level of radioactive emissions from Sellafield into the Irish sea; and what the comparable figures were five years and 10 years ago.
§ Mr. CurryUnder the Radioactive Substances Act 1960, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is jointly responsible with the chief inspector of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution for the authorisation of radioactive discharges from sites such as Sellafield.
The Ministry conducts a regular and extensive programme of monitoring for radioactivity in the marine environment around the United Kingdom coastline, 164W including the Irish sea and the results are published annually in reports entitled "Radioactivity in Surface and Coastal Waters of the British Isles", copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
These reports show that the levels of radioactivity in liquid discharges from the Sellafield site to the Irish sea have been reduced very substantially in recent years, as indicated in the table.
1979 1984 1989 Sellafield sea pipeline: Beta radioactivity (TBq) 4,058 1,190 101.4 Alpha radioactivity (TBq) 62 14 2.7 Seaburn Sewer: Total radioactivity (TBq) 0.011 0.0038 0.0012 As a result, even those people living near the site who consume large amounts of local fish and shellfish will in 1989 have received a radiation dose of only 0.19 mSv, less than one fifth of the internationally recommended limit of 1 mSv.