§ Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total amount of nuclear waste that has arisen from the use of military reactors; and where such waste is reprocessed and stored.
§ Mr. PattieIt has been the practice of successive Governments not to divulge the quantities or composition of nuclear waste generated from the use of military reactors; however, the quantity generated is small compared to that produced in the civil nuclear programme. Spent nuclear fuel is transported to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd.'s plant at Windscale where it is either stored or reprocessed. In the case of reprocessing, the high level waste separated is also stored at Windscale pending disposal in the future. Certain amounts of low level waste are also generated from the use of these reactors and these are disposed of in accordance with the appropriate United Kingdom and international regulations and to the same rigorous standards as those utilised in the disposal of civil wastes.