WRITTEN QUESTION E-0981/01 by Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Firing of depleted uranium shells into the Solway Firth, United Kingdom.
Date: 2001-03-30
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: France, United Kingdom, environmental monitoring, nuclear test, nuclear weapon

20.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 364 E/19

(2001/C 364 E/021)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0884/01

by Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(27 March 2001)

Subject: Radiological sampling at military ranges where depleted uranium munitions have been tested

What plans does the Commission have, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter III of the Euratom Treaty, to
conduct radiological sampling at military ranges or other sites in the UK and France where depleted
uranium munitions have been tested?

(2001/C 364 E/022)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0979/01

by Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(30 March 2001)

Subject: Test firing of depleted uranium shells

Does the Commission consider that the test firing of depleted uranium shells into coastal waters within the
European Union is covered by the OSPAR Convention?

(2001/C 364 E/023)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0980/01

by Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(30 March 2001)

Subject: Surveys of environmental radioactivity

What surveys of environmental radioactivity are currently being conducted by the Commission or its
agents?

(2001/C 364 E/024)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0981/01

by Nuala Ahern (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(30 March 2001)

Subject: Firing of depleted uranium shells into the Solway Firth, United Kingdom

What evaluation has the Commission made of the environmental survey conducted by consultants W.S.
Atkins on behalf of the British Ministry of Defence in 1994, released in January 1995, into the impact on
the marine and terrestrial environment of the test-firing of depleted uranium shells in the United Kingdom
into the Solway Firth (from the Dundrennan range near Kirkcudbright,
in Scotland) and at Eskmeals
(Cumbria, in England)? Is it aware of any similar survey conducted by France into its depleted uranium
testing site at Granat?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-0884/01, E-0979/01, E-0980/01 and E-0981/01
given by Mrs Wallstr(cid:246)m on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2001)

Test ranges of depleted uranium munitions may be either terrestrial or in a marine environment.

In the case of marine test ranges, the Commission stated on several occasions (cid:129) most recently in its reply
to Oral Question H-0055/01 by Mrs Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou during question time at Parliament(cid:146)s February
2001 part-session (1) (cid:129) that no contamination of the marine environment which could be distinguished
from naturally occurring uranium concentrations would result from this activity. It is the Commission(cid:146)s
understanding that this issue has so far not been addressed under the Oslo-Paris (OSPAR) Convention.

C 364 E/20

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.12.2001

As far as terrestrial test ranges are concerned, under Article 35 of the Euratom Treaty the Commission has
a right of access to the facilities necessary to carry out continuous monitoring of the air, water and soil,
hence in the environment, for verification purposes. The Commission has thus no access to nuclear or
military sites as such, and the Commission would request access only in so far as on-site monitoring
facilities are necessary for the assessment of the impact on the environment beyond the site perimeter.

The Commission maintains a watching brief on the situation with regard to levels of radioactivity in the
environment on the basis of the information received under Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty, site specific
to the
data provided by Member States authorities, and other
Commission(cid:146)s attention. The Commission was not aware of the British study with regard to the Solway
Firth, nor of a similar study conducted by France.

information brought

sources of

On the basis of the existing Community legislation, mechanisms ensuring monitoring of radioactivity in
the environment already exist. The implementation of such provisions does not highlight a particular need
for these to be augmented by the Commission conducting environmental sampling for depleted uranium.

(1) Oral reply of 13.2.2001.

(2001/C 364 E/025)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0891/01

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(27 March 2001)

Subject: Subsidies for the Sensus police project

In reply to Question P-0009/01 (1), Commissioner Erkki Liikanen said that the Commission was aware that
the AfA (Amt f(cid:252)r Auslandsfragen), which was involved in both Aventinus and Sensus via its test centre for
language technology, was a government body reporting to the office of the German Federal Chancellor.
Mr Liikanen thereby implicitly acknowledges that the Commission was (cid:145)aware of the involvement of the
German federal security service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst(cid:146).

the German federal security service,
the
To avoid any misunderstanding about
Bundesnachrichtendienst, with Aventinus and Sensus,
I should like to know: does the Commission
acknowledge, explicitly and unambiguously, that it was aware of the involvement of the German federal
security service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst?

the involvement of

(1) OJ C 187 E, 3.7.2001, p. 154.

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(1 August 2001)

The Commission services were aware at the time of the signature of the Sensus contract, that the Amt f(cid:252)r
Auslandsfragen (AfA) was a test centre for language technology, a public body reporting to the German
federal chancellery. They were not informed of any relationship between AfA and the Bundesnachrich-
tendienst (BND) until towards the end of the project. In any case, there was no legal impediment to the
participation of AfA, or indeed the BND, in the Sensus project.