§ Mr. Robin F. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the anticipated cost of providing full IAEA safeguards at Windscale; and if he intends to make any increase in the United Kingdom contribution to the agency to cover this cost.
§ Mr. BennBecause the United Kingdom is a nuclear weapon State it is not obliged to submit its nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But IAEA safeguards are applied on the United Kingdom, where necessary, to accord with the requirements of States which supply nuclear materials to us. Additionally,316W the United Kingdom has voluntarily offered to submit its nuclear facilities to safeguards similar to those applied in non-nuclear weapon States in accordance with the provisions of the NPT, subject to exclusions for national security reasons only. Negotiations with Euratom and the IAEA for an agreement to implement this voluntary offer are in their final stages.
The cost of safeguards at a specific facility will depend on the IAEA's assessment of the annual required inspection effort. Accordingly, no such assessment is yet available for Windscale. I do not expect any increase in our contribution to the agency specifically to cover the cost of implementing our offer.