§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Energy on how many occasions, and in which years, and in what amounts, plutonium from British Nuclear Fuels Limited operated reactors at Calder Hall—Chapel Cross has been submitted to (a) EURATOM safeguards and (b) International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
§ Mr. Goodlad[pursuant to the reply, 13 June 1986, c. 343]: When United Kingdom civil nuclear plutonium became subject to Euratom safeguards in January 1973 the initial declared inventory included material in Calder Hall—Chapel Cross origin then being used in civil research and development work.
A similar situation obtained in August 1978 when the initial inventory of plutonium subject to the United Kingdom/Euratom/IAEA agreement was declared. Since safeguards were introduced, there have been two additional occasions on which plutonium, in greater than gramme quantities, of Calder Hall—Chapel Cross origin has been submitted for inclusion on the inventory of safeguarded material in the United Kingdom; 545kg in February 1984 and 1.5kg in March 1986. Additionally there has been a number of occasions when quantities of less than one gramme have been submitted for inclusion into the safeguarded inventory.
The current situation is that more than 1½ tonnes plutonium of Calder Hall—Chapel Cross origin are subject to international safeguards arrangement. This includes some 700kg exported by BNFL. The balance is held by the UKAEA and BNFL.