Building 5
T 01980 613121
Dstl is part of the
Porton Down
F 01980 65 8400
Ministry of Defence
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP4 0JQ
xxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
www.dstl.gov.uk
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our ref: FOI 723-12 AIT 30-03-2012-115830-004
Your ref:
24 April 2012
Dear Ms Thompson, ,
Thank you for your email dated 29 March 2012, which has been considered to be a request for
information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
You have asked for all documents relating to tests carried out on the depleted uranium penetrator
and the subsequent results of the tests of the penetrator which was delivered to DERA at Maryport.
I can confirm that we hold information that meets the terms of your request However, some of the
information falls within the exemptions Defence 26 and Commercial Interests 43 of the FOI Act.
These being qualified exemptions are subject to a Public Interest Test (PIT).
We have now completed the PIT and reviewed this information as follows:
Although this information is held by the MOD some of the information has been withheld from
release by us using the following exemptions; Section 26 Defence,
26(1)(a) (information which, if
disclosed, would prejudice the defence of the British Islands or any colony)
, 26(1)(b) (information
which, if disclosed, would prejudice defence or the capability, effectiveness or security of relevant
forces)
Also Section 43 Commercial Interests,
43(1) (information is exempt information if it constitutes a
trade secret)
, 43(2) (information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would
be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding
the information)
A small amount of personal information (names of officials, etc) has been redacted under section 40
as this is not within scope of your request.
Having carried out the necessary Public Interest Tests it has been concluded that, in all the
circumstances of this case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption in respect of information
which is subject to commercial confidentiality agreements and contains design details that would
assist others in duplicating or reducing the operational effectiveness of current UK munitions
outweighs the public interest in disclosure. Further details are provided below.
The enclosed information relates to testing for health and safety purposes and testing to examine the
metallurgical properties of the recovered penetrator. The following documents are enclosed:
a. DERA/Ranges/Land(ESK)/ECR/121/001, DATED 28 OCTOBER 1997. A letter containing
redacted text which relates to personal information or to information which is subject to
commercial confidentiality agreements or would assist others in duplicating or reducing
the operational effectiveness of current UK munitions.
b. DRPS LABORATORIES RESULT SHEET – LABORATORY JOB NO 931/97. A letter
containing redacted text which relates to personal information.
c. An unclassified summary of the content of two classified reports which contain
information subject to commercial confidentiality agreements or which would assist others
in duplicating or reducing the operational effectiveness of current UK munitions.
MOD interpretation of the health significance of the results
It might be helpful if we explain that the health and safety testing consisted of the measurement of
the amount of Protactinium-234m (shown as 234m Pa in the enclosures). This is in equilibrium with
the parent Uranium-238 which, according to publicly available Royal Society reports entitled “The
health hazards of depleted uranium munitions”, represents about 50% of the activity in a DU sample.
Having determined the DU activity, any possible health impact can be assessed by the methods
described in the Royal Society reports. Deliberate collection of a sample of “Friable Oxides”
represents an unrealistic worst case possibility for ingestion of loose contamination, however, even if
this value is used in the Royal Society’s worst case assessment procedure, the radiation dose that
an individual might receive from the ingestion of this material is only 10% of the current UK annual
dose limit for a member of the public. For a more realistic scenario, based on the average of the
smear sample results and the Royal Society procedure for determining a central estimate, the dose
would be 0.8% of the current UK limit.
Limitations in search
Dstl staff operate in the capacity of the MOD’s Radiation Protection Advisers and hence most likely
to hold information of the type requested. Dstl are also aware of and have contacts within a wide
range of MOD Departments with depleted uranium (DU) munitions interests.
This reply is based on the results of a search of the electronic records held by Dstl and on
information provided by our contacts in other Departments. No manual search has been carried out
of Dstl’s extensive archives of hard copy files as this would fall under section 12 where cost of
compliance exceeds appropriate limit. Additionally, our search of the electronic records has not
provided any evidence to suggest the existence or likely existence of any other relevant documents.
If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling
of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal resolution is not possible
and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the
Head of Corporate Information, 2nd Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail CIO-
xxxxxx@xxx.xx). Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40
working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the MOD internal
review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information
Commissioner can be found on the Commissioners website, http://www.ico.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely
Dstl FOI Department