§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what report he has had from Her Majesty's ambassador in Algiers regarding the report of the Arab Energy Conference on Algiers Radio on 4 May that Libya would start to generate electricity from nuclear energy in the coming decade; what checks are envisaged under the non-proliferation treaty to ensure that excess plutonium is not produced which could be used for nuclear weapons; and whether he intends that this matter should be raised at the United Nations.
§ Mr. LuceAs a non-nuclear weapon state party to the non-proliferation treaty, Libya has undertaken not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, and to accept International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards on all its nuclear activities. In the event that Libya starts to produce nuclear-generated electricity, the question of safeguards on the plutonium arising would be a matter for the IAEA rather than the United Nations.