§ Gillian MerronTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to publish the UK strategy for radioactive discharges. [73103]
§ Mr. MeacherThe strategy is currently being printed and will be published very shortly. Copies will be placed in the Library. The document will also be available on the DEFRA website.
The strategy demonstrates how the UK will achieve substantial reductions in radioactive discharges in the period to 2020, to implement agreements reached at the 1998 ministerial meeting and subsequent meetings of the OSPAR Commission.
Radioactive discharges in the UK have already been reduced to around 1 per cent. of peak levels in the 1970s. This strategy represents the next chapter of what has been an increasingly effective policy to minimise such discharges and shows that the Government are determined to maintain the downward pressure and achieve the objective of the OSPAR radioactive substances strategy.