MONITORING OF RADIOACTIVE SEA DUMP SITES

Early day motion 819, tabled 6 February 2002 by Andrew George (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 67 members.

That this House welcomes the Government's open approach as set out in its consultation paper, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely; but is concerned that many thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste, which includes plutonium with a half life of many thousands of years, was dumped at sea in a variety of sites from the Hurd Deep near the Channel Islands and other sites off the Cornish and French coasts between 1949 and 1982 and remains potentially hazardous to marine and human life; and believes that, while the potential hazard is small, the Government has an obligation to future generations to ensure that these ocean sites are adequately monitored and retrieval plans prepared in case serious leakage were to occur.

Signatures by party: Liberal Democrat 30, Labour 29, Labour/Co-operative 3, Plaid Cymru 2, UUP 2, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.