§ Mr. Frank CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list all sites within his Department where luminising operations have been or are carried out; what sums are required for containment or decontamination of wastes arising; what criteria govern the inclusion of such sites within the national radioactive waste inventory; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. SoamesAs part of a review of its procedures for dealing with instances of land contamination on the defence estate, my Department is in the process of identifying sites where radium luminising work has been undertaken in the past and establishing the extent of decontamination work undertaken after luminising work was discontinued. It is too early to say what further containment or decontamination work may subsequently be required at such sites. In completing the national radioactive waste inventory, my Department acts in accordance with the guidance notes which require details of any waste allocated either for disposal to the BNFL land burial site at Drigg or for storage pending the availability of a national deep underground repository.