§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what records his Department holds regarding surplus stocks of conventional explosives brought from RAF Great Orton to Royal Ordnance establishments in Wales for disposal between 1946 and 1948; what current environmental monitoring is conducted by his Department on these disposal sites; and if he will list locations of all land and off-shore sites in and around Wales used for such disposal. [6436]
§ Mr. SoamesAny surviving records on the operation of RAF Great Orton will be held in the Public Records Office. Surplus munition stocks from this unit would have been allocated for sea disposal at Beaufort's dyke or transferred to the Royal Ordnance factory, Pembrey, south Wales for breakdown and reduction to scrap. Land burial was not an authorised final disposal route for surplus munitions or explosives. The only disused sea disposal sites adjacent to the Welsh coast are off Milford Haven. My Department has no plans to monitor disused munition sea dumping grounds.