§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what statements have come to the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government which have been made by 6W officials of the United States Government about the uses of civil plutonium exported to the United States of America from the United Kingdom;
(2) whether Her Majesty's Government have been consulted by the United States Government about their plans for the future of the fuel grade plutonium available to them, and if Her Majesty's Government will make representations to the United States authorities that no British sourced material should be used for military purposes directly or indirectly as an offset for other supplies.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI refer the right hon. Member to the statement made by the then Prime Minister on 21 April 1964 in which he recorded that he had been informed by the United States Government that they had no intention of using any of the plutonium produced in the reactors of the generating boards for weapons purposes. Subsequently, my hon. Friend the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Erewash (Mr. Rost) on 27 July 1982, stated that the United States authorities had confirmed to Her Majesty's Government that the material had been used for civil purposes, and this was reiterated by my hon. Friend the present Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State on 2 April. I understand that the United States Energy Secretary, Mr. Hodel, has recently reported to Congressman Ottinger, Chairman of the Congressional Sub-committee on Energy, that this plutonium has not been used in weapons and that it is the policy of his Department not to so use it.
In the light of these assurances, representations by Her Majesty's Government on this matter are unnecessary. The use of plutonium supplied to the USA from the United Kingdom's military reactors for defence purposes is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he has anything to add to the statement made by the Under-Secretary of State for Energy on 21 December 1981, Official Report, column 935ff, on the use of the plutonium exported from the United Kingdom to the United States of America.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe debate referred to concerned the possibility of an export of United Kingdom plutonium to the United States for use in its fast reactor programme. My hon. Friend the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State explained in the debate that only preliminary discussions had at that time been held. Since then there have been no further developments and the matter has not been pursued. As regards plutonium that has been exported to the United States, I would refer the right hon. Member to the answer I have given him today on his other questions.