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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what clean up operations he has put in place on the Crown Estate relating to the use of munitions containing depleted uranium. [43422] Dr. Moonie: As Eskmeals, depleted uranium (DU) rounds have been fired against hard targets and the resulting DU fragments and contaminated debris have been collected after each firing. The material has then been sent for disposal at the low-level radioactive waste repository at Drigg. Air filters from the target area have also been disposed of via this route. Some higher activity material, such as DU plate, which is not suitable for disposal at Drigg, remains in storage pending a national decision on future radioactive waste disposal strategies. Some steel targets contaminated with very low levels of DU are still stored at the site and options for the disposal of this material are currently being discussed with the Environment Agency. At Kirkudbright, the trials require the DU rounds to be fired through very soft targets (such as hessian sheets) and to travel out to sea. In this case, remediation is required only if an experimental round malfunctions and contaminates the range area. When such impact points have been located, samples of soil and vegetation have been collected to assess the degree of contamination: clean-up is then carried out if pre-set action levels have been exceeded. Specially marked drums have been kept at each firing point for storing contaminated material and the Radiation Protection Adviser has provided disposal advice on a case-by-case basis. At West Freugh, a small number of DU projectiles, weighing less than 25kg in total, were fired into the sea 2km below the low-water mark. There are no records of any DU projectiles accidentally striking the land in the region. The small number of DU rounds in the sea were not considered to pose a hazard which would warrant a clean-up operation. Foulness had an indoor facility, in which small experimental DU projectiles were fired between 1982 and 1983. The building was designed to prevent any escape of particulate DU into the atmosphere. It is no longer in use and was decontaminated in 1997.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

43422; 382 c315W;382 c313W

Session

2001-02

Subjects

Ammunition Environment protection Health hazards Radioactive materials Depleted uranium Firing ranges Kirkcudbright Training Area Eskmeals

Link

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