§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the manufacture, assembly, testing and storage of depleted uranium ammunition is covered by(a) international environmental treaties, (b) verification and reporting under the Chemical Weapons Convention and (c) European Union and national environmental regulations; and if potentially hazardous releases or emissions have been reported to the relevant environmental and safety regulators. [150995]
§ Mr. Meacher[holding answer 26 February 2001]: I am not aware of any international environmental treaties which cover depleted uranium ammunition. The Chemical Weapons Convention does not cover depleted uranium ammunition.
Within the European Union civil uses of nuclear materials are regulated under the Euratom Treaty and subsidiary legislation. The Government's position is that the Euratom Treaty does not apply to military activities. The Radioactive Substances Act 1993 makes provision for the regulation of radioactive substances. The licensing provisions of the Act are applied to companies involved in the manufacture and assembly of depleted uranium ammunition and permits have been issued covering a number of such premises. Premises occupied on behalf of the Crown for the purposes of the armed forces or the Ministry of Defence are exempt from the provisions of the Act. However, the Environment, Agency does regulate these premises by administrative rather than statutory means.
Apart from the small amount of contained firing at Foulness and Aldermaston, test firing of depleted uranium has been concentrated on two sites. One site at Eskmeals in Cumbria has not been used since 1995. The Environment Agency believes from environmental monitoring reports it has seen that there have not been any potentially hazardous releases or emissions of depleted uranium to the environment from this site. The other site is at Dundrennan in Kirkudbright, Scotland from which shells are fired into the Solway Firth. A long-term environmental monitoring programme on the effects of depleted uranium test firing has been in place in Kirkudbright since 1983. In 1993, W. S. Atkins Ltd. was commissioned to produce an independent environmental impact assessment for Kirkudbright. The report concluded that the firing programme produced a negligible effect on the local environment.