§ Mr. BlairTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what information he has as to the results of assessment by BNFL and the Central Electricity Generating Board of the corrosive qualities of spent advanced gas reactor fuel.
§ Mr. ParkinsonBritish Nuclear Fuels plc has carried out considerable research into techniques incorporating the use of corrosion inhibitors in its fuel-handling plants. These techniques are being successfully applied to the storage of spent advanced gas-cooled reactor fuel at Sellafield.
§ Mr. BlairTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy whether there are any proposals to improve the facilities at BNFL for the wet storage of spent nuclear fuel from advanced gas-cooled reactors; and what length of time it is estimated that the spent fuel can be kept in wet storage without a significant risk of corrosion.
§ Mr. ParkinsonI understand that the spent fuel from advanced gas-cooled reactors can be kept in wet storage at Sellafield, without significant risk of corrosion, until it is reprocessed in the thermal oxide reprocessing plant. The fuel will be stored in existing facilities and no improvements to them are necessary.
Ample storage capacity exists at Sellafield to handle spent AGR fuel, both before the completion of THORP and well into the future.