§ Mr. McGradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what action will be taken to eliminate the discharges of Technetium-99 from Sellafield into the Irish Sea. [77599]
§ Mr. MeacherFollowing a decision in 1999 to reduce the technetium-99 discharge limit from 200 TBq/year to 90 TBq/year, Ministers requested the Environment708W Agency to carry out a review of technetium-99 discharges from Sellafield. The Agency published its proposed decision concerning these discharges on 20 September 2001 and set out various actions that, subject to technical problems being overcome, and HOUSE being content about the safety implications, could be undertaken to reduce the current technetium-99 discharge limit to 10 TBq/year by 2006. The Agency's proposed decision is currently under consideration by the Secretaries of State for Health and for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who jointly have the decision-making responsibilities in this area. We expect that their response to the Agency's proposals will be published shortly.