HC Deb 05 November 1968 vol 772 cc73-4W
Mr. Maclennan

asked the Minister of Technology whether, following the decision to close the Dounreay Materials Testing Reactor, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority will use only the irradiation facilities of Harwell or other authority establishments for materials testing; and if it is intended to invite tenders for this work from abroad.

Mr. J. P. W. Mallalieu

After the Dounreay Materials Testing Reactor is shut down it is the Authority's intention that experiments which would have been mounted in it will be placed in the Authority's Materials Testing Reactors at Harwell. It is not intended to invite tenders from abroad for this work. The Atomic Energy Authority has for some years used facilities in other countries for irradiation work where these facilities are better suited to a particular purpose than their own. They will continue this practice after D. M. T. R. is closed down, but this affects only a fraction of the total work done.