§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 27 January 1998,Official Report, column 180, if he will list in respect of (a) AWE Aldermaston, (b) Rosyth dockyard and (c) Devonport dockyard the quantities of all radioactive materials held on site which are not defined as low-level waste or intermediate-level wastes, giving the forms in which such material is held. [51226]
§ Dr. Reid[holding answer 20 July 1998]: No high level waste is held at any of the sites.
AWE, Aldermaston holds approximately 960 cubic metres of very low level waste comprising soil contaminated with plutonium removed from around Aldermaston Court and the Pangbourne pipeline valve pits. Devonport Dockyard currently holds approximately 20 cubic metres of very low level waste, made up of protective clothing, material and equipment contaminated with activation products, principally cobalt 60. Rosyth Dockyard currently holds no very low level waste.
Rosyth Dockyard currently hold spent fuel equivalent to one submarine reactor core and Devonport Dockyard one and three-quarters submarine reactor cores of spent fuel. In accordance with IAEA and Euratom definitions, spent fuel is not categorised as waste while reprocessing remains an option. The decision as to whether this and other spent fuel owned by the Department is to be reprocessed remains open.
Two decommissioned submarines, HMS Valiant at Devonport and HMS Renown at Rosyth, still contain spent fuel. Plans are in place to remove this fuel at the earliest operational programmed opportunity. HMS Repulse which was referred to in the reply I gave the hon. Member on 27 January 1998, Official Report, column 180, has now been defuelled and the spent fuel transferred to BNFL Sellafield.