§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the radiological risks posed to people living in Scotland by the presence of nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed submarines on the Clyde and Forth estuaries.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonAll Royal Navy nuclear powered submarines are operated to stringent safety criteria. As is52W made clear in the latest issue of "Marine Environment Radioactivity Surveys at Nuclear Submarine Berths in the UK", published by HMSO and covering the surveys undertaken in 1990—a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library—there has been no radiological hazard to any member of the general public from the operation of nuclear-powered submarines.
It has of course been the policy of successive Governments neither to confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at specific locations or times. I can, however, state that there has never been an accident involving a United Kingdom nuclear weapon that has resulted in any radiological hazard to the public.