Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to (a) contain, (b) clean up and (c) remediate radioactivity in the (i) air and (ii) sea as a result of (A) potential incidents and (B) accidents involving vessels transporting radioactive cargos through the English Channel.

Defra is the lead Government department for remediating releases of radiological and nuclear materials in England.

Containment of the source may be possible but would depend on a wide range of factors.

If radioactive contamination from the air or sea was transferred to the built environment, for example deposited on a building, or was deposited on land, for example beaches, then Defra would consider recovery options. This would involve a risk-based approach using existing contingency plans to consider environmental risks.