§ Andrew MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the security implications of the theft of 30lb of depleted uranium from a site in Thurrock in July. [126329]
§ Mr. Blunkett[holding answer 17 July 2003]I understand from Essex Police that the incident is being treated as a crime of theft of a vehicle. The van contained a box made of depleted uranium which was part of the normal emergency equipment carried in case there should be a problem with a radiation source in an instrument used for site radiography. The box was empty at the time of the theft and did not itself pose a significant risk from radioactivity.
There is no indication the theft was in any way connected to terrorism.
§ Andrew MackinlayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions depleted uranium has been stolen from(a) the plant in Thurrock and (b) from other sites elsewhere in the United Kingdom over the past five years; and if he will make a statement. [126314]
§ Mr. BlunkettIn the past five years, the Health and Safety Executive have received only one report of depleted uranium being stolen or missing from the site in Thurrock. That was following the theft of a van on 7 July 2003. The van contained a box made of depleted uranium which was part of the normal emergency equipment carried in case there should be a problem with a radiation source in an instrument used for site radiography. The box was empty at the time of the theft and did not itself pose a significant risk from radioactivity.
Thurrock have made no other reports of depleted uranium being stolen or lost. Records for the UK are not held centrally.