Catalogue description Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Food Science and Atomic Energy Division and successors: Registered Files, Nuclear Energy and Food Safety (NE Series)

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Details of MAF 298
Reference: MAF 298
Title: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Food Science and Atomic Energy Division and successors: Registered Files, Nuclear Energy and Food Safety (NE Series)
Description:

Records of the various Food Science Divisions of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, concerning the safeguarding of food, agricultural land and fishing grounds from the possible harmful effects of the use of nuclear energy. Subjects covered include authorisations, reports on sites, site emergency arrangements, general policy, monitoring and sampling, interdepartmental committees, international liaison. The series includes minutes and papers of the Advisory Panel on Discharge of Radioactive Wastes.

Many of those files relating to particular sites contain maps and plans. Some files also contain papers re-registered from the Z file series (MAF 250 and MAF 355)

Date: 1954-2000
Arrangement:

Arranged in former reference order within each of these accessions: pieces 1-141, 142-155, 156-158, 159-171.

Related material:

For records relating to water quality around sites using radioactive materials see MAF 336

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: NE file series
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, General Division, 1947-1954

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1955-2001

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Emergency Services Divisions, 1955-1960

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Food Science and Atomic Energy Division, 1961-1962

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Food Science and Plant Health Division, 1963-1964

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Food Science Division, 1972-1995

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Food Standards and Science Division, 1970-1972

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Food Standards, Science and Safety Division, 1964-1970

Physical description: 358 file(s)
Access conditions: Open unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 1994 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Accumulation dates: 1961 onwards
Accruals: Series is accruing
Administrative / biographical background:

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was made jointly responsible with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government for the granting of authorisations for the discharge of all forms of radioactive waste to organisations which operated nuclear installations, under the Atomic Energy Authority Act 1945 and the Radioactive Substances Act 1960. The aim was to ensure that agricultural land and fishing grounds did not become contaminated with radioactivity which would then pass into the food chain. In support of this objective, the ministry carried out monitoring and sampling at disposal sites, and prepared reports on sites and participated in the preparation of site emergency arrangements. Monitoring of water quality was done by the Fisheries Radiobiological Laboratory, while monitoring of agricultural land was carried out by the ministry's emergency services divisions, 1954 to 1961, and then the Food Science and Atomic Energy Division (1961-1962), the Food Science and Plant Health Division (1962-1964) and the Food Science and Safety Division (1964), before passing to the amalgamated Food Standards, Science and Safety Division in 1964.

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