§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what response has been made by Her Majesty's Government to the European Commission communication to the Council of Ministers on the implementation of on-site laboratories at Sellafield for the verification analysis of safeguards samples (SEC (92)515 final) dated 25 March; and what estimate he has made of new costs that would be incurred by the United Kingdom on the adoption of the Commission proposal.
§ Mr. EggarThere has been no discussion on the topic of Euratom's on-site laboratories in the Council. The 757W United Kingdom is, however, generally supportive of the proposal. It is anticipated that the use of on-site laboratories will provide savings to the Commission by removing the need to ship safeguards samples to the continent for analysis.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish the total cost of research and development to date for(a) the Magnox nuclear programme, (b) the advanced gas-cooled reactor programme, (c) the steam-generated heavy water reactor programme and (d) the fast breeder reactor programme and if he will indicate the extent to which these costs were borne by Nuclear Electric or its predecessor bodies.
§ Mr. EggarTotal expenditure to date by the Atomic Energy Authority on research and development into nuclear reactors is:
£ million Gas cooled reactors 480 Water reactors 475 Fast reactors 1,830 The figures are expressed as historic costs. Separate figures for the Magnox and advanced gas-cooled reactor programmes are not available. The contributions to these programmes by Nuclear Electric and its predecessors are a matter for the company.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade on how many occasions since 1990 nuclear material has been withdrawn from safeguards under article 14 of the 1978 tripartite agreement between the United Kingdom, Euratom and the International Atomic Energyf Agency.
§ Mr. EggarForty-one withdrawals of nuclear material have been made from safeguards, under article 14 of the UK-Euratom-IAEA tripartite safeguards agreement, since 1 January 1990.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he is able to indicate, without providing any details that would be commercially sensitive, whether Nuclear Electric or British Nuclear Fuels plc has applied to sell any quantities of depleted uranium abroad since 1990.
§ Mr. EggarAll export licence applications are commercially confidential. Provision of this information is therefore a matter for the companies concerned.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the additional administrative work needed by his Department if the European Council adopts the proposal for a regulation on security measures applicable to classified information produced or transmitted in connection with Euratom activities—Com(92)56 final—issued on 24 February.
§ Mr. EggarIt is not yet clear how much information would be affected which is not already covered in Council regulation (Euratom) No. 3, which came into force in 1958. An early decision on the proposal is not in any case expected, nor would we expect it be adopted in its present form.