HC Deb 16 January 1984 vol 52 cc45-6W
Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what is the size of the stockpile of uranium oxide in the United Kingdom; and under whose auspices is it kept.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The size of the stockpile of uranium oxide is commercially confidential. The stockpile is owned by the users, the generating boards, British Nuclear Fuels and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. It is held by British Nuclear Fuels.

Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what are the countries of origin of the uranium oxide stockpile and how much there is from each country.

Mr. Giles Shaw

The countries of origin of the stockpile are Namibia and Canada. The quantities from each are commercially confidential.

Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Energy how much highly enriched uranium is stockpiled in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Giles Shaw

This information is classified for defence security reasons.

Mr. Tony Banks

asked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) what is the annual average requirement of highly enriched new uranium fuel for the Central Electricity Generating Board, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and British Nuclear Fuels;

(2) whether, when uranium oxide is processed into highly enriched fuel in the United Kingdom, separate accounting is carried out to ensure that oxide from different countries of origin can be separately identified in terms of its origin when it has reached the stage of uranium hexafluoride and highly enriched fuel.

Mr. Giles Shaw

Highly enriched uranium (HEU) is not required by the generating boards or British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) and the enrichment of uranium to HEU is not carried out in the United Kingdom. British Nuclear Fuels produce low enriched uranium, that is uranium with a U235 content of about 3 per cent., for the AGR reactors of the boards and for use in reactors abroad. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), however, has a small requirement for HEU for experimental purposes. Annual burn-up of HEU in UKAEA reactors operating on an 85 per cent. load factor at the nominal capacity would be 20 Kg of U 235.