§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Energy what progress has been made in building the thermal oxide reprocessing plaint at Sellafield; what is the latest estimate of the cost of reprocessing in this plant; if terms have now been agreed between the Central Electricity Generating Board and British Nuclear Fuels plc for reprocessing spent fuel from advanced gas-cooled reactors; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. GoodladI am advised by BNFL that the construction programme for THORP (thermal oxide reprocessing plant) is proceeding according to plan to meet166W reprocessing commitments in the 1990s. BNFL's unit charges for reprocessing irradiated fuel are not available, for commercial reasons. The estimated costs for the storage and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel are included in the estimated generating cost data published in the CEGB's "Analysis of Generating Costs", a copy of which is in the Library. BNFL and CEGB are in the process of finalising the contractual arrangements in respect of CEGB's commitment to the THORP project.
§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Energy what changes have taken place in the United Kingdom demand for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel in the past five years.
§ Mr. GoodladI am advised by the CEGB that its demand for reprocessing Magnox spent nuclear fuel has increased over the past five years as a result of improved power station performance. In the case of AGR reprocessing there has been a reduction in demand for reprocessing capacity in THORP for the reasons given by my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon Central (Mr. Moore) in answer to a question from the hon. Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham) on 28 July 1982, at column 546.
Demand for fast reactor fuel reprocessing at Dounreay has increased in line with the progressive commissioning to full operating capacity of the prototype fast reactor.