HC Deb 20 June 1989 vol 155 cc92-3W
Mr. Alan W. Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many spent AGR fuel rods have been reprocessed at Sellafield to date; and what is the expected capacity at Sellafield for reprocessing spent AGR fuel rods for each year from 1989 to 2000.

Mr. Michael Spicer

To date some 18 tonnes u of AGR fuel from the Windscale AGR has been reprocessed at Sellafield. This was carried out for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in the early 1970s in a facility that was shut down in 1973.

The thermal oxide reprocessing plant is scheduled to begin reprocessing operations in late 1992. In its first 10 years of operation, BNFL has contracted to reprocess 6,000 tonnes u of fuel, of which 1,850 tonnes u is AGR fuel (some 40,000 AGR fuel assemblies) from the home generating boards and some 30 tonnes u of fuel from Windscale for the authority. It is expected that an additional 1,000 tonnes of capacity will be available during the first 10 years of the plant, so that additional capacity could be allocated to AGR fuel.

Mr. Alan W. Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the problem of conversion of spent AGR fuel rods in storage under water at Sellafield; what proportion are corroded; after how many years under water corrosion becomes a problem; what problems are encountered in reprocessing badly corroded AGR fuel; and how much more expensive it is to reprocess.

Mr. Michael Spicer

BNFL did experience problems with corrosion in one out of its three storage ponds some four years ago. The measures taken to deal with these were successful. The company estimated that only some 3.5 per cent. of the fuel pins housed there had suffered. Representative samples have been dismantled without any problems and reprocessing should proceed smoothly with no additional costs to be incurred by the generating boards.

British Nuclear Fuels plc has carried out extensive research into the storage of AGR fuel under water. I am advised that all available evidence suggests that, for fuel maintained in the correct water chemistry, no significant corrosion will occur for at least 10 years, and possibly longer.

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