§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Energy when Japanese nuclear fuel for reprocessing will be received at Windscale; how it will be stored; and in what quantities per month and for what length of time it will be held.
§ Mr. Eadie:Irradiated magnox fuel has been received at Windscale from Japan since 1969 and further deliveries are expected at the rate of about 50 tonnes (uranium content) a year during 748W the next decade. This fuel is reprocessed in the existing magnox reprocessing plant and prior to processing is held in water filled storage ponds for varying periods, according to the working programme of the plant.
Small quantities of irradiated oxide fuel have been received from Japan since 1973 and by now about 100 tonnes (uranium) is stored in water filled storage ponds. The expected delivery rate from Japan during the next decade is about 150 tonnes a year as an average and all this fuel will be held in pond storage until the THORP reprocessing plant commences operation in the late 1980s. It is intended that all this fuel will then be reprocessed within 10 years.