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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what levels of depleted uranium radiation were found on the Iraqi (a) main battle tanks, (b) other armoured vehicles (A vehicles), (c) soft skinned vehicles (B vehicles), (d) vehicle mounted artillery systems, (e) field artillery and (f) anti-aircraft gun systems recovered by British armed forces from the Gulf War and brought to the UK; and if he will make a statement. [142164] Mr. Spellar: Iraqi equipment of the types described was surveyed for the presence of radioactive material generally and was not tested specifically for depleted uranium (DU). These surveys would have detected any contamination levels at which special health and safety precautions defined in Statutory Instruments would have had to be introduced. No DU levels above five becquerels per square centimetre were found during Iraqi equipment monitoring and therefore no special precautions were needed under current or past legislation. Between 1985 and 1999, the relevant legislation was the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1985 and controlled and supervised contamination areas existed when DU contamination levels exceeded 60 and 20 becquerels per square centimetre respectively. Controlled contamination areas are those in which personal protective equipment is generally worn and where washing, monitoring and decontamination facilities are immediately available. Supervised contamination areas present a lower level of risk and the principal requirement is for these areas to be monitored to prove that contamination levels are not increasing towards controlled area levels. From January 2000, the corresponding controlled and supervised contamination area levels were increased to 82 and 27 becquerels per square centimetre respectively. This change results from the introduction of new legislation and a re-evaluation of dose coefficients by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

360 c179-80W; 142164

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Ammunition Defence equipment Health hazards Iraq-Kuwait conflict Radioactive materials Standards Depleted uranium

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk