Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many spent fuel rods from advanced gas-cooled reactors await reprocessing in Sellafield.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerAt 31 March 1989, some 895 tonnes u of spent AGR fuel (some 21,000 AGR fuel assemblies) and some 24 tonnes u of fuel (1,900 assemblies) from the Windscale AGR were held in storage ponds at Sellafield.
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many spent Magnox fuel rods were reprocessed at Sellafield in each year from 1980.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerWeights of individual magnox fuel rods vary considerably and it is the usual practice to give the quantities of magnox fuel reprocessed at Sellafield in tonnes u. On average there are 100 fuel rods per tonne. For the annual reprocessing tonnages from 1980, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Mr. Goodlad) to the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith) on 11 December 1985 at columns638–39, and my reply to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) on 1 February 1988 at columns 473–74. The figures for 1986–87 and 1987–88 were published by my Department as part of annual information on plutonium production placed in the Library of the House. The tonnage for 1988–89 was some 875 tonnes u.