§ Ms JowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimates her Department have made of the number of people who will die each year(a) in Cumbria, (b) in the United Kingdom and (c) worldwide, as a result of the proposed emissions of krypton gas from Nuclear Fuels Ltd.'s thermal oxide reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria;
(2) what assessment has been made of the additional cost to the health service of treating the additional 86W childhood leukaemias and other cancers due to the emissions of radioactivity from the Sellafield site compared with current, actual emissions.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe estimated collective dose for members of the pubic in the United Kingdom, Europe and worldwide from the proposed emissions of radionuclides, including Krypton 85, from British Nuclear Fuel Ltd's thermal oxide reprocessing plant are tabulated in the authorising Departments' explanatory memorandum to the draft authorisations. Copies of the draft authorisations are available in the Library. Estimates of the theoretical number of fatal cancers can be made using the fatal cancer risk factor recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection, which is currently 0.05 deaths per Sievert. For example, this theoretical calculation would imply, for all radionuclides discharged annually to the atmosphere from these proposed authorisations (covering all plants on the Sellafield site), rather less than one excess death in the United Kingdom over the next few decades. This precludes any sensible quantification of cost.