§ Mr. Chris SmithTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to her answer of 30 November,Official Report, column 494, whether Her Majesty's Government have yet reached a decision on whether to accept the recent London convention decision to introduce a permanent ban on the disposal of radioactive waste at sea; and if she will make a statement.
Mrs. Gillian ShepherdThe United Kingdom will accept the formal ban on dumping low and intermediate-level radioactive waste at sea, which was adopted at the consultative meeting of the London convention in November 1993. We are already committed to a moratorium on sea dumping until 2008 under the OSPAR convention, and we have not carried out any dumping since 1983.
The United Kingdom's firm view is that decisions on disposal of waste should be taken on scientific and economic grounds. At the meeting of the London convention, the UK therefore argued against an indefinite ban, in view of the scientific and economic arguments in favour of sea dumping for certain categories of radioactive waste.
The scientific evidence shows that dumping at sea, carried out under controlled conditions, causes no harm to the marine environment and poses no threat to human health. This has been confirmed by careful monitoring over many years and studies have shown it to be the best practicable environmental option for the disposal of certain types of radioactive waste.
Nevertheless, the United Kingdom recognises that the weight of international opinion on this matter means that such dumping is not, in any event, a practical proposition. We have, therefore, decided to accept the ban.
We shall continue our own programmes of monitoring and research, and will contribute actively to the scientific re-evaluation to be carried out under the convention after 25 years. The United Kingdom will be ready to reopen discussions in the convention at any time should the weight of opinion change in favour of accepting the scientific conclusions.