Depleted Uranium Shells (Hansard, 16 July 1993)

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if, pursuant to his answers to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) of 1 July,Official Report, columns 630–31, when he expects to begin the environmental impact assessment at Eskmeals and Kirkcudbright. respectively, to which he refers; if Her Majesty's Health and Safety Executive produced a report following its 1986 visit to Kirkcudbright; and if Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution produced published reports following the visits to Eskmeals in 1989 and 1993 to which he refers.

§ Mr. Aitken
My Department is already in the process of commissioning independent consultants to undertake an environmental impact assessment at both Eskmeals and Kirkcudbright. A suitable company will be engaged by late summer or early autumn. The Health and Safety Executive did produce a report following its 1986 visit to Kirkcudbright. Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution did not produce published reports following its visits to Eskmeals in 1989 and 1993.

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what studies his Department has conducted on the pyrophoric qualities of depleted uranium when distributed into particulate matter on impact in an armour-piercing shell.

§ Mr. Aitken
Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the Defence Research Agency has conducted studies or trials specifically addressing this phenomenon. Data available from United States sources indicate that it has no military significance.

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 2 July,Official Report, column 639, if Her Majesty's Government made any submissions to the European Commission, pursuant to article 34 of chapter III of the Euratom treaty, when United Kingdom depleted uranium shells were tested at La Gramat in France in 1990.

§ Mr. Aitken
The Euratom treaty does not apply to military activities. There was therefore no requirement to make any submission to the European Commission regarding the testing of depleted uranium shells at Gramat in France.

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when British Nuclear Fuels was awarded the contract to monitor for radioactivity at the Dundrennan test range at Kirkcudbright following the testing of depleted uranium shells; and if the monitoring reports have been published.
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§ Mr. Aitken
British Nuclear Fuel's contract to analyse samples from the Kirkcudbright range commenced on 1 May 1992 and was renewed earlier this year. As I indicated in my reply to the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) on 1 July 1993,Official Report, column 630, copies of the monitoring reports on the three ranges where DU rounds have been fired will be placed in the House of Commons Library once they have been checked to confirm that no classified information is included.

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence where the tests for the armour-piercing capability of depleted uranium shells are conducted.

§ Mr. Aitken
All tests in the United Kingdom of the armour-piercing capability of DU shells are carried out in the enclosed butt facility, known locally as "VJ Battery", at Eskmeals. The tests at Kirkcudbright are to test the range and accuracy of DU rounds and no firings have ever been carried out against armour targets there.

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the answer of 5 July,Official Report, column 51, if he will set out (a) how many depleted uranium shells have been recovered following test firing into the Solway firth and (b) what monitoring has been undertaken of the Solway firth as to radioactive contamination from the shells.

§ Mr. Aitken
No DU rounds have been recovered from the Solway firth to date. Environmental monitoring arrangements are set out in the reply of my hon. Friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces' to the hon. Member for Pembroke (Mr. Ainger) on 14 June,Official Report, column 474.