WARNINGS that nuclear waste dumped by submarines at Devonport could be contributing to instances of cancer and leukaemia have been brought to the attention of West Devon Borough Councillors.
Tavistock Peace Action Group (TPAG), represented by Geri Laithwaite, spoke at last week's council meeting regarding recent surveys showing increased incidences of cancer and leukaemia in areas affected by higher tritium levels.
TPAG also posed three questions regarding the adequacy of the borough council's current emergency procedures in the event of a nuclear accident at Plymouth:
l What areas of West Devon would be affected?
l How would the region cope under the inevitable insurge of nuclear refugees?
l Why had there been no distribution of the MoD leaflet 'What to do in a Nuclear Emergency' to West Devon households?
Outlining the borough council response, officer Dave Banks said: 'We believe the risk to the majority of West Devon householders to be minimal.
'Obviously in the event of a nuclear accident, the extent of the problem would depend on the extent of the accident occurring, but our belief is that the extendibility zone would include only a very small part of West Devon Borough Council's area.'
He said the potentially affected area is part of the parishes of Bere Ferrers and Buckland Monachorum, which has been identified as being within ten kilometres of submarine berths at Devonport Dockyard.
'If an accident made an evacuation of the Plymouth area necessary West Devon has contingency plans to shelter those made temporarily homeless in the area's schools and village halls.
'Further to that we have no immediate plans to distribute MoD leaflets in West Devon — the statutory area for distribution is within 2km of the submarine berths and no part of West Devon comes within that zone,' he said.
In reference to the MoD leaflet, he said West Devon had stocks and in the event of an incident 'they will be distributed, along with other pieces of public information, to people in the borough who may be affected.'
Ms Laithwaite said she was dissatisfied with the response and believed the borough council was not taking this problem seriously enough.
She said it was 'not only an accident at the submarine berths that posed a nuclear risk — although obviously that would be a major concern.'
In a letter to the borough, TPAG has asked the council to put pressure on the relevant authorities to cease work related to nuclear submarines until more thorough research has been carried out into the potential risk to humans posed by radiation from water-borne tritiated waste.'
The group plans to keep the pressure up. They are taking their case before Caradon District Council next month and hope to canvas local support there.