Un-regulated discharges of Depleted Uranium to the Environment at Eskmeals Cumbria

I noted this response from the Environment Agency about a FOI asking

"to see copies of the letters of agreement from the Environment Agency and predecessor to the Ministry of Defence for the atmospheric discharges of depleted uranium from VJ Battery at Eskmeals Firing Range, Cumbria."

The response from the EA  dated 8/2/13

Thank you for your e-mail dated 8 January 2013 regarding atmospheric
discharges at Eskmeals Firing Range.

We have made a detailed and thorough search of all the files we hold regarding the Eskmeals site, this includes records we hold on site and we have also recalled the older records in off-site secure storage and assessed these. We can find no record of letters of agreement between MOD and the Environment Agency, or its predecessors, on aerial emissions from the VJ Battery at the Eskmeals site. The majority of our regulation at that site relates to permitting and regulation of solid waste disposal or on the use of radioactive sources for testing purposes. We wouldn’t have considered the firing of military weapons for test purposes from the VJ battery as a disposal of radioactive waste and therefore not subject to our regulatory arrangements with MOD."

The response is surprising in that it refers to discharge in the context of disposing of radioactive waste rather than a discharge to the environment.
  
" We wouldn’t have considered the firing of military weapons for test purposes from the VJ battery as a disposal of radioactive waste".

The reply also talks in terms of "regulation" the EA has no powers to regulate since the Radioactive Substances Act is diss-applied from the MOD.

A previous post goes into the detail of the relationship between the EA and the MOD

"The response to this FOI request clearly shows the MOD failed to meet its own policy to seek letters of agreement from the EA when discharging substantial quantities of radioactive substances into the environment."

The reply from the EA shows that they have abdicated their responsibility to protect man and the environment so far as exercising proper oversight of the discharge of depleted uranium to the environment from the firing of DU at Eskmeals is concerned.  

This extract from the JSP 815 clearly shows how the MOD is clearly in the driving seat so far as the regulation, oversight of radioactive substances and control  of information are concerned.   

ANNEX N (APPENDIX 1) RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ANNEX (TO THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY AND THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE)

para 27
The Agency will consult the Ministry on any request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), for the release of any classified (see MoU) or sensitive information (including paper and electronic documents) originating from the Ministry. Unless information has been provided by the Ministry on the specific understanding that it will be published, the Agency will first consult the Ministry to ensure that all factors relevant to an assessment of the balance of public interest are understood and taken fully into account.

28 Classified or sensitive information shall be managed in accordance with the Agency’s Security Management Procedure and the Official Secrets Act.  In order to minimise the requirement for the Agency to reply directly to FOIA/EIR requests involving classified or sensitive nuclear programme information, the Agency will be provided, where practical, with access to classified and sensitive information on a Ministry site rather than retain the information itself.

Footnote page 2: 6 For radioactive substances activities covered by this Annex, the Agency has no legal powers to enforce compliance.

Video of DU firings at Eskmeals

In response to a FOI request the Ministry of Defense has released a video of the DU firings carried out at Eskmeals on the Cumbria coast.

The video shows how during the early years of the firing programme significant quantities of  DU were released to atmosphere and how in the later years of the firing programme efforts were made to reduce the discharge of DU to atmosphere



Related Posts

• DU firings at Eskmeals "As Low As Reasonably Practical"? 
• Unregulated discharge of Depleted Uranium to the Environment
• Depleted Uranium measurements Eskmeals West Cumbria

DU Firing programme at Eskmeals - As Low As reasonably Practical ?

Reference 1

Looking back to the UK depleted uranium firing programme and in particular the firings carried out Eskmeals on the west Cumbrian coast. It is interesting to consider to what extent these firing complied with the duty to restrict exposures to as low as level as reasonably practical (ALARP).  

The  IRR99 and the IRR85 requires employers to keep exposure to ionising radiation as low as reasonably practicable. 

VJ Battery at Eskemals in the early years was essentially a traditional open butt with the addition of a roof and extract ventilation from each side of the butt. this allowed the spray back of aerosolised DU and fragements through the open air onto a apron in front of the butt.

To quote from the reports :-

 Safety Services Organisation MOD(PE) November 1983, The distribution of Depleted Uranium releases at P&&EE Eskmeals, excluding appendices.

Report summarising the measurements taken at VJ Butt P&EE Eskmeals of Depleted Uranium in air during the period 1981 to 1982.

"The penetrator on impacting with the target produced pyrophoric fragments which rapidly disintegrate and. there is a spray back-up the range over an angle of 20 degrees  for a distance of 60 metres."

"Total activity in air measurements taken outside the butt indicate that DU is being released to the environment at levels above the DAC for a period of time after firing. It is not possible to quantify the amounts.".   DAC "Derived Air Concentration" ICRP 30

"The DU dust was found to be well within the respirable size range, dust particles of this size have very long settling times and can remain airborne  for very long periods of time and if allowed to disperse from the butt may travel many hundreds of meters."

This is the  Department of Defense Superbox DU firing facility at Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland USA. As can be seen the facility offers almost complete containment. It includes a flight tunnel with a drop down door.  The Superbox facility is seen as an example of a facility that reduces exposures to the public and workers outside the facility to a level that is  ALARP

The conclusion is that  that in the early years of the firing programme the MOD failed to meet its legal duty to restrict exposures to as low as level as reasonably practical. It is also interesting to consider that that the VJ Battery at Eskmeals was probably very quick and cheap to build compared to the Superbox facility in the USA. 

It is now also clear that the MOD failed to seek letters of agreement from the Environment Agency for the discharge of DU to atmosphere from VJ Battery at Eskmeals. This was in breach of the MODs' own policies.

Later years of the firing programme at Eskmeals

DRPS Report "Comparison of Kirkcudbright and Eskmeals Environmental Monitoring Data with Generalised Derived Limits for Uranium" June 2002 mentions that a tunnel was added to the face of VJ Butt in order to reduce discharges of DU to the environment. This acknowledged that the original firings at VJ did not comply with the requirement to restrict exposures to as low as level as reasonably practical.

References

1: HSE Reducing risks protecting people 2001

Unregulated discharge of Depleted Uranium to the environment

Thank you for your enquiry dated 21 September 2012. This has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000.

You asked for: 

 "letters of agreement from the Environment Agency and its predecessor organisations for  the MOD to discharge of depleted uranium to the environment from Eskmeals and  letters of agreement from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and its predecessor organisations for the MOD to discharge of depleted uranium to the environment from  Kirkcudbright." 

"I am writing to advise you that the information you requested is not held.  There is no licensing as such of the Ministry of Defence's depleted uranium firing activities. The  procedure adopted at the outset of the depleted uranium trials programme, which is still in force, is  for regulatory authorities with Health and Safety and Environmental Protection responsibilities to  be involved in the design of the safety arrangements and to visit the sites as and when they wish."

In the case of Kirkcudbright some 6,907 shells have been fired into the Solway Hansard and  there appears to be no accurate figures for the amount of DU dispersed to the environment at Eskmeals. 

JSP 392 Vol 2,  Leaflet 30  "DEPLETED URANIUM" states that there are so far as the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93)  is concerned there are parallel arrangements, this being the case there should be letters of agreement from the environmental regulators for the discharge of depleted uranium to the environment.  The response to the FOI request shows that none were obtained  and the discharges were unregulated. 

It may be that the MOD felt that it would be pointless to seek letters of agreement form the environmental Regulators as they were unlikely to agree to the discharges and so far as the MOD were concerned it was fortunate that the RSA93 does not apply to the MOD. 

The response to this FOI request clearly shows the MOD failed to meet its own policy to seek letters of agreement from the environmental  Regulators  when discharging substantial quantities of radioactive substances into the environment.  

Extract from JSP 392 Vol 2,  Leaflet 30  "DEPLETED URANIUM" 


"3 In addition to the general requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the 
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the following specific legislation applies 
directly or is applied indirectly through parallel arrangements designed to achieve equivalent standards: 
• Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 (IRR99) (apply directly). 
• Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93) (parallel arrangements)"



References

MOU between the MOD and Environment Agency

Depleted Uranium Measurements Eskmeals West Cumbria

In response to an FOI request MOD has  released two  reports on levels of Depleted Uranium ( DU) generated at the point of impact of 120mm DU kinetic energy rounds against hard targets at the Eskmeals R&D facility in West Cumbria. These reports detail measurements used to determine the time at which workers with PPE could enter the target area.

While most of the interest in DU has focused on service personnel who were exposed to DU in combat,  workers at Eskmeals were exposed day in day out for years whilst DU  firings were carried out at Eskmeals.

Report summarising the measurements taken at VJ Butt P&EE Eskmeals of Depleted Uranium in air during the period 1981 to 1982.

Safety Services Organisation MOD(PE) November 1983, The distribution of Depleted Uranium releases at P&&EE Eskmeals, excluding appendices.

Qinetiq Eskmeals