§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her answer of 3 December 2001,Official Report, column 96W, on nuclear accidents, what assessment has been made of the need to distribute iodine tablets to the population; and how long it will take average prevailing winds to carry fallout from France to the south coast of England. [22353]
§ Yvette CooperI have been asked to reply.
Potassium Iodate tablets are held at or around various nuclear industry sites throughout the United Kingdom including Ministry of Defence sites as part of the detailed emergency planning arrangements in the vicinity of nuclear power plants. Other stocks are also held centrally.
800WAs part of the on-going contingency planning the Department is reviewing stocks and supplies of potassium iodate tablets for use in the unlikely event of a nuclear accident at a nuclear power installation either in the UK or abroad.
Advice from the Meterological Office is that there is no "average prevailing wind" from France. However, depending upon the meteorological conditions at any given time, the quantity and source location of the radioactivity on the French coast and the area of the south coast in question, it may take a few hours.