Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 2015-12-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth on 25 November (HL3609), whether they plan to require nuclear power plants to collect and publish hourly or half-hourly radioactive emissions statistics, and if not, why not.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
Current UK legislation requires nuclear power plants in England to limit their radioactive gaseous emissions to within safe levels. Similar legislation is in place in Wales and Scotland. The UK and territorial environmental agencies are responsible for implementing this legislation, which includes setting specific emissions limits and monitoring and reporting requirements for individual plants.
The regulators have powers to vary these requirements, including the scope and frequency of emissions monitoring and reporting, as they deem necessary for the purpose of verifying each plant’s compliance with its permitted emissions limits. The regulators also have powers to take robust enforcement action in respect of any breach in compliance.
The Government is satisfied that current legislation provides for effective control and monitoring of radioactive gaseous emissions and is content that the regulatory bodies should continue to mandate emissions monitoring and reporting requirements on a plant by plant basis.
