§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the United Kingdom capacity for reprocessing nuclear fuel elements; and what plans he has for expanding that capacity in view of British requirements and the need to meet overseas contracts.
§ Mr. EadieThe present capacity of British Nuclear Fuels Limited is 1,500638W tonnes per annum. The company's plans for providing further capacity to deal with future domestic needs and overseas contracts are under consideration.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the capacity for reprocessing nuclear fuels in the Community; and what additional capacity is under construction or planned, giving location and dates of completion.
§ Mr. EadieIn the United Kingdom British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) operates a plant at Windscale with a nominal capacity of 1,500 tonnes a year, and plans for expansion to some 3,500 tonnes in the 1980s are under consideration.
Commercial reprocessing facilities are also available in France from plants at Marcoule and La Hague and in the Federal Republic of Germany from the plant at Karlsruhe. I understand that the total reprocessing capacity currently available in the United Kingdom, France and the Federal Republic of Germany is about 3,000 tonnes per annum.
The British, French and German operators co-ordinate their investments through a jointly owned company, United Reprocessors GmbH and I understand that they plan to expand their joint capacity to about 8,000 tonnes a year by the second half of the 1980s. There are also small reprocessing plants at Mol in Belgium and Saluggia in Italy but neither of these is at present operating commercially.