§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade, what quantities of plutonium fuel rods have been manufactured at AWE Aldermaston for the prototype fast reactor at Dounreay; when these rods were manufactured; and what safeguards arrangements applied to their production and storage. [22031]
§ Mr. PageA total of 29 clusters of experimental PFR fuel were made in a special facility at Aldermaston between 1962 and 1972. The PFR production fuel elements were later manufactured at Windscale. At the time of this campaign Aldermaston was run by UKAEA. The campaign took place before Euratom safeguards or the UK-Euratrom-IAEA agreement came into effect. The UKAEA exercised stringent nuclear material accountancy controls on all materials, including those in question. The plutonium used was part of a stock assigned to the fast reactor programme. The programme had no links to weapons work at Aldermaston.