HL Deb 05 June 1989 vol 508 cc709-10WA
Lord Jenkins of Putney

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether it is possible to identify the current location of plutonium created in Hunterston A.

Baroness Hooper

Where the extracted plutonium is still owned by the South of Scotland Electricity Board, it is stored under safeguards at Sellafield on behalf of the board or its successor body. Some plutonium produced in Hunterston A was consigned to the United States before 1971 under the US/UK defence agreement and, as stated by the then Prime Minister on 21st April 1964 at cols. 1097–1098, has been used by the United States for civil purposes. In addition, some plutonium has been sold to the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority for use in its civil research and development programme and some exported under international safeguards for civil purposes.