§ VISCOUNT THURSOasked Her Majesty's Government whether the fears of an explosion in the atomic plant at Dounreay, Caithness, have been eliminated by the major changes in the design of the plan which were explained to this House in reply to a Question on May 15, 1957; whether it has proved possible by means of a catch-pot to trap any uranium which melts accidentally; and whether the public can now feel confident that there is no longer any fear of the accumulation of uranium in a critical mass which 568WA might explode with sufficient force to shatter the big steel globe surrounding the plant.
§ THE MINISTER of POWER (LORD MILLS)The Answer I gave the noble Viscount on May 16, 1957, related,inter alia, to the possibility of the melting of the fuel elements. Experiments which have been carried out confirm that the catch-pot which would collect and disperse molten fuel would do so in a safe way without producing a critical accumulation. Some minor changes in design have been introduced. The Atomic Energy Authority have assured my right honourable friend the Prime Minister that the reactor at Dounreay would not be operated under any condition which could foreseeably lead to a failure of the outer sphere.
House adjourned at seventeen minutes before seven o'clock.