HC Deb 17 June 1997 vol 296 cc151-2W
Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will ensure that British Nuclear Fuels do not transport radioactive material by plane to Sellafield until the Government have reassessed the safety standards for such flights. [4207]

Ms Glenda Jackson

I understand that BNFL have no current plans to transport radioactive materials to Sellafield by air.

However radioactive material has been safely transported by air from Sellafield for many years, in packages meeting the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safety Standards as promulgated in the International Civil Aviation Organisation's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air on which UK law is based.

The IAEA keeps its standards under continuous review and recently revised and strengthened its recommended standards for the safe transport of radioactive material by air. We thus see no purpose in a further safety review at this time.

We expect the latest IAEA recommendations to be implemented into UK law when they have been introduced into ICAO's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air.