§ Dr. Jack CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) for what reason test firing using depleted uranium contaminated gun barrels from Eskmeals was carried out at Shoeburyness; who authorised the transfer of the gun barrels; and if he will make a statement; [18970]
- (2) pursuant to his answer of 23 November 2001, Official Report, column 514W, on depleted uranium, how many rounds were fired in the tests; and how many were recovered; [18968]
- (3) what environmental impact assessment was carried out, and by whom, before depleted uranium contaminated gun barrels from Eskmeals were used in test firing at Shoeburyness; [18969]
- (4) who was the radiation protection adviser; for which organisation he or she worked; whether the Defence Radiology Protection Service was (a) consulted and (b) involved; and if he will make a statement. [18967]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 30 November 2001]: Test firing using depleted uranium (DU) contaminated gun barrels is required as part of the effectiveness and safety trials to determine the effect of firing a variety of rounds through worn barrels. The Challenger II tank worn barrel trial is planned to commence in January 2002. The trial involves firing a range of non-DU based ammunition natures such as high explosive and training rounds. The trial will involve the use of barrels that have not fired DU rounds as well as those that have. More recently, between 20 to 29 November, one gun barrel stored at QinetiQ Eskmeals, that had fired DU in the past, was used in a CHARM 3 Training Round (a non-DU round) trial at the Shoeburyness ranges. Test firing is being carried out at Shoeburyness because it meets the minimum firing distance required and provides a round recovery facility and a suitable cost-effective solution. There is no reason on health and safety grounds why the work cannot be carried out at this site.
No specific authorisation to transfer barrels allocated to support these trials is needed. Each barrel that has fired DU in the past has a record annotated accordingly and is accompanied with appropriate precautionary advice.
In the November trial, 71 rounds were fired and none were recovered. The worn barrel trial in January is planned to use 184 rounds and it is planned to recover 226W some rounds to ascertain any effects on the round's stability and performance. Recovered rounds fired will be monitored for DU.
No environmental impact assessment was undertaken immediately before the CHARM3 training round trial and none is planned for the worn barrel trial. However, a risk assessment for the routine use of DU contaminated barrels was carried out by the Department's Radiation Protection Adviser, the then DERA Radiation Protection Services, in May 2000. Although this assessment concludes that no DU will be released from the barrel, environmental monitoring was conducted at the start, during and after the firings on 20 November. This involved a base line survey taking soil and grass samples and monitoring around the gun, passive air sampling, and a swab sample of the inside of the barrel when firing was complete. The monitoring will also be conducted in support of the worn barrel trial.
The barrels used at Shoeburyness were monitored before transfer. The monitoring in this case showed that the barrels contained less than 10 kilobecquerels of DU and thus confirmed that the material presented very little risk. This conclusion is based on the generic risk assessment conducted in May 2000, which is applicable to all barrels containing less than 10 kilobecquerels of DU.