§ Mr. Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what has been the annual production of nuclear waste at(a) Rosyth dockyard, (b) Devonport dockyard and (c) the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston, for each year from 1986 to date, broken down by category of waste; and how much of each category of waste is presently held at each site. [19783]
§ Dr. Reid[pursuant to his reply, 16 December 1997, c. 161–63]: I regret that it is necessary to correct the information given and to amplify answers given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence at defence questions on 12 January 1998, Official Report, column 14.
Three nuclear submarines await defuelling, Renown and Repulse at Rosyth and Valiant at Devonport. The nuclear reactors in these submarines have been completely shut down and are in a benign condition. Specific Royal Navy personnel will remain on board until the process is complete. Once the spent fuel has been removed, these submarines will be stored afloat with appropriate maintenance pending final disposal. The spent fuel will be consigned to long term storage at BNFL Sellafield.
In accordance with IAEA and Euratom definitions, spent fuel is not categorised as waste while the option of reprocessing remains open and a possible future use for the fuel can be foreseen. A decision has yet to be made on whether this and other spent fuel held by the Department is to be reprocessed. If it is reprocessed, some High Level Waste will be generated. If the decision is not to reprocess the spent fuel, it will be recategorised as High Level Waste. Accordingly my Department holds no material categorised as high level waste at this time.