§ Mr. Robin F. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the maximum capacity of the reprocessing plant at Dounreay after alterations, the expected annual through-put and the date when he anticipates it will come on stream.
§ Mr. EadieThe existing Dounreay fast reactor (DFR) fuel reprocessing plant has been modified to reprocess fuel from the prototype fast reactor (PFR), as part of the experimental demonstration of the fast reactor system. The plant's maximum annual through-put is dependent on fuel consumption and design, but it could take up to 5 tonnes of mixed uranium/plutonium oxide per annum, that is, containing 0.8 to 1 tonne plutonium. It is expected that the plant will be fully commissioned before April 1978, when the need to reprocess irradiated PFR fuel will first arise.