§ Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Energy what has been the mass of spent fuel discharged from each Magnox reactor of the Central Electricity Generating Board and the South of Scotland Electricity Board for each year of operation and for each station.
§ Mr. John MooreIn my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Mr. Skeet) on 9 March 1983, I stated that the quantity and isotopic composition of the plutonium exported to the United States under the barter arrangements between 1959 and 1970 could not be
te U Year Bradwell Berkeley Hinkley point A Trawsfynydd Dungeness A Sizewell Oldbury Wylfa Total 1971–72 68 104 13 65 145 135 128 14 672 1972–73 87 110 98 11 90 146 92 60 694 1973–74 67 115 160 228 102 134 143 98 1,047 1974–75 81 89 165 135 146 133 103 180 1,032 1975–76 81 100 127 102 128 136 109 85 868 1976–77 74 104 136 72 123 129 101 184 923 1977–78 84 38 164 130 61 115 125 91 809 1978–79 61 61 113 98 65 102 77 113 690 1979–80 44 79 117 112 31 81 115 192 771 1980–81 3 37 144 47 — 130 108 256 725 1981–82 6 — 101 98 18 66 91 209 589 1982–83 52 22 112 129 87 81 91 227 801 708 859 1,450 1,227 996 1,389 1,283 1,709 9,621 Notes:
(i) Figures for individual reactors are not available.
(ii) The figures do not include the reactors of the SSEB which are the responsibility of the Secretary of Stale for Scotland.
§ Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Energy what has been the net feed of uranium into each Magnox reactor of the Central Electricity Generating Board and the South of Scotland Electricity Board for each year of operation and for each station.
§ Mr. John MooreIt is the practice with Magnox refuelling to replace the fuel discharged with an equal quantity of new fuel. In general, therefore, there is no net feed of uranium to the reactor beyond the initial charges of fuel which were as follows:
te U Bradwell 478.8 Berkeley 461.4 Hinkley Point A 706.0 Trawsfynydd 587.0 Dungeness A 613.5 Sizewell 641.0 Oldbury 583.8 Wylfa 1,191.8 TOTAL 5,263.3 There are two exceptions to this situation (i) in one or two instances modification of the fuel element design has given rise to a small net input of uranium during the period of changeover and (ii) small quantities of uranium—about 1 per cent.—are either fissioned or converted to plutonium during irradiation in the reactor.
Notes:
376W
- (i) Figures for individual reactors are not available.
- (ii) The figures do not include the reactors of the SSEB which are the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Scotland.
revealed for national security reasons in view of the relationship of this information to the quantity of haghly enriched uranium received by the United Kingdom for defence purposes. The information now requested by the hon. Member for the years up to 1970–71, taken together with that provided in answer to his question of 1 April 1982, would enable a calculation to be made of the quantity of plutonium exported to the United States under the barter arrangements. For that reason, it would not be in the national interest to disclose information for the years up to and including 1970–71. The mass of spent fuel discharged from each CEGB Magnox station for each year of operation from 1971–72 onwards is as follows: