HC Deb 14 December 1992 vol 216 cc83-4W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 19 November,Official Report, column 294, what previous project definition studies have been carried out in relation to the A91 building at AWE Aldermaston.

Mr. Aitken

A definition study for the building that is now designated as A91 was commissioned by the Property Services Agency in July 1980.

Mr. Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 25 June,Official Report, columns 298–99, what is the average level of plutonium contamination in grassed areas inside AWE Aldermaston; and how much of AWE Aldermaston is estimated to be affected.

Mr. Aitken

AWE Aldermaston undertakes routinely an extensive programme of on-site monitoring, involving hundreds of surveys and thousands of measurements each year, for alpha, beta and uranium radioactivity in soil and grass. The average level of plutonium specifically is not measured in most of these surveys, but its activity is included as total alpha. In addition local soil surveys are always undertaken prior to any engineering work in order to confirm that disturbed material will not contain significant levels of radioactivity. Almost all results are very low and show no levels of radioactivity greater than that which occurs naturally or due to worldwide fallout from the atmospheric testing that took place mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. Slightly elevated levels are occasionally measured in some localised areas where certain operations have been conducted. The specific compound referred to in my previous answer on 25 June 1992,Official Report, columns 298–99, occupied an extremely small area, less than one thousandth of the total area of the site. The average levels of alpha, beta and uranium radioactivity in soil and grass are indistinguishable from those measured off-site in the general locality of Aldermaston. They do not present radiological dangers to the workers, the general public or to the natural environment.

Mr. Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the design and construction of a solid waste treatment plant as part of the new waste management complex at AWE Aldermaston.

Mr. Aitken

This project has been deferred pending the decision about the requirements of a United Kingdom repository for intermediate-level waste.

Mr. Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of the new design and construction of a size reduction facility as part of the new waste management complex at AWE Aldermaston.

Mr. Aitken

This project has been deferred pending the decision about the requirements of a United Kingdom repository for intermediate level waste.