§ Mr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what studies have been undertaken by his nuclear non-proliferation department into the requirement of the Japanese nuclear industry for the return of plutonium separated at Sellafield prior to agreeing to give an export licence for the plutonium; and if his Department has received any recent representations from non-governmental organisations on the problems and risks of the international commerce in plutonium.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggNone. The matters raised in the first part of the question are more properly an issue for the Department of Energy. However, the basic guidelines of British policy on exports and transfers of nuclear materials were announced by Lord Callaghan, then Foreign Secretary, in a parliamentary answer on 31 March 1976. The topic of international commerce in plutonium was raised at my recent meeting with 34 non-governmental organisations on 26 November.