Officials are currently in the process of collating the information held by the Department; I will write to the hon. Member once this work is complete.
Substantive answer from Quentin Davies to Dai Davies:
In my answer of 12 May 2009 to your Question (Official Report: Column 753W), I undertook to write to you regarding how much liquid radioactive waste has been discharged into the sea loch at Faslane in each year since it first hosted Polaris.
Resolution Class submarines, which carried Polaris, operated out of Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde at Faslane from 1967. Information regarding liquid discharges for the period 1967-76 is not held. The information relating to liquid radioactive waste discharged into the sea loch at Faslane since 1977 is provided at Annex A.
It may be helpful if I put this information into context. Between 1967-93 the discharge level set by Her Majesty's Industrial Pollution Inspectorate was a total radioactivity limit of 37 Gigabecquerels (GBq), excluding tritium. Since 1994 the agreement with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has included tritium and has required the information to be broken out into the different nuclide groups. The liquid radioactive discharge limits since 1994 are as follows:
Alpha Activity: 0.200 GBq
Beta Activity: 0.500 GBq
Cobalt-60: 0.500 GBq
Tritium: 1000.000 GBq
As you can see from the figures, the total liquid radioactive discharges into the sea at Faslane have not exceeded the limits set by the regulatory authorities, and in all cases are significantly below the limits; I can confirm that SEPA have not made any recent representations on the matter.
I hope this information is useful.
Annex A
Year Radioactivity Discharges in GBq 1993 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.055 1992 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.037 1991 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.110 1990 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.084 1989 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.032 1988 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.030 1987 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.046 1986 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.085 1985 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.046 1984 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.240 1983 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.110 1982 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.055 1981 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.040 1980 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.211 1979 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.012 1978 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.016 1977 Total Activity (excluding tritium) 0.100
Year Radioactivity Discharges in GBq 2008 Alpha 0.000 2008 Beta Activity 0.019 2008 Colbalt-60 0.005 2008 Tritium 72.830 2007 Alpha 0.000 2007 Beta Activity 0.013 2007 Colbalt-60 0.003 2007 Tritium 66.400 2006 Alpha 0.001 2006 Beta Activity 0.006 2006 Colbalt-60 0.003 2006 Tritium 121.000 2005 Alpha 0.002 2005 Beta Activity 0.013 2005 Colbalt-60 0.003 2005 Tritium 115.000 2004 Alpha 0.002 2004 Beta Activity 0.005 2004 Colbalt-60 0.007 2004 Tritium 47.900 2003 Alpha 0.015 2003 Beta Activity 0.003 2003 Colbalt-60 0.008 2003 Tritium 93.700 2002 Alpha 0.002 2002 Beta Activity 0.035 2002 Colbalt-60 0.009 2002 Tritium 78.156 2001 Alpha 0.002 2001 Beta Activity 0.001 2001 Colbalt-60 0.030 2001 Tritium 39.710 2000 Alpha 0.002 2000 Beta Activity 0.008 2000 Colbalt-60 0.010 2000 Tritium 64.000 1999 Alpha 0.002 1999 Beta Activity 0.010 1999 Colbalt-60 0.004 1999 Tritium 69.400 1998 Alpha 0.008 1998 Beta Activity 0.020 1998 Colbalt-60 0.022 1998 Tritium 42.500 1997 Alpha 0.017 1997 Beta Activity 0.008 1997 Colbalt-60 0.055 1997 Tritium 72.800 1996 Alpha 0.018 1996 Beta Activity 0.178 1996 Colbalt-60 0.087 1996 Tritium 198.000 1995 Alpha 0.014 1995 Beta Activity 0.311 1995 Colbalt-60 0.203 1995 Tritium 93.900 1994 Alpha 0.019 1994 Beta Activity 0.115 1994 Colbalt-60 0.064 1994 Tritium 113.000 Note: Figures have been rounded to three decimal places.