§ Mr. David PorterTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when his report will be published into the incident which involved the discharge of elevated levels of radioactivity from Sellafield on 12 February.
§ Mr. YeoThe report is published today by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. I have placed a copy of the report in the Library of the House.
The report concludes, in particular, that the discharge occurred because a ventilation system from a cell area was unfiltered. Steps have been taken to guard against a recurrence. The radiation dose to the most exposed member of the public from the incident would not have exceeded one thousandth of the average radiation dose to such a person from natural radiation in a year in the United Kingdom. There was no contravention of the Sellafield nuclear site licence conditions or of the current authorised discharge limits for aerial discharges in connection with the incident.
The regulating authorities are to audit Sellafield's facilities on the site to ensure that the possibility of a recurrence of similar incidents is minimised.