§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have seen the report of the Science and Policy Research Unit at Sussex University which the Guardian has reported as recommending that the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant (THORP) should be abandoned rather than completed and whether they will respond to the alleged findings of the report that conditions have changed so radically since THORP was commissioned that the plant is obsolete and unnecessary.
§ Lord Cavendish of FurnessThe Department of Energy has seen a copy of the report but is not planning a formal response. The success of an industrial facility like THORP depends upon the level of business it generates. The profitability of THORP is already ensured by the success of British Nuclear Fuels plc in winning some £6,000 million of orders for its first 10 years of operation, including some £4,000 million from overseas customers. The company is continuing to win new business and, in the course of 1990, secured contracts worth some £850 million from a number of German utilities.