§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what monitoring he undertakes of the surrounding area of Trawsfynydd; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesThe food science division and the fisheries radiological inspectorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food undertake monitoring in the Trawsfynydd area on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales. The FSD monitoring covers food and agricultural products whilst that undertaken by FRI involves aquatic environmental monitoring of Lake Trawsfynydd. The results are regularly published in the terrestrial radioactivity monitoring programme and aquatic environment monitoring reports, copies of which are held in the Library of the House. In addition, Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution has a programme of environmental monitoring linked to its regulatory responsibility for the nuclear power station.
This monitoring shows that levels of radioactivity found in the environment as a result of discharges from the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station are within international and national guidelines.
Part of the area near Trawsfynydd falls within the designated area which is subject to controls on the movement and slaughter of sheep following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. The Welsh Office monitors radioactivity levels in sheep from the area as part of those controls.