§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether there are any agreed plans for disposing of the world's surplus plutonium; where the bulk of it is currently located; whether plutonium is still being produced and, if so, where.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)Plutonium is produced in all nuclear reactors which use uranium fuel. It is for the owners of civil plutonium to make arrangements for its storage and use, subject to meeting the requirements of the international safeguards regime. The location and amount of stocks held outside the United Kingdom are matters for the relevant authorities. The United Kingdom's civil stock is held safely and securely, principally in purpose built stores at Sellafield. It is expected that the material will ultimately be burnt in reactors to generate electricity. This could involve fast reactors, as and when they are needed, or plutonium could be used as mixed oxide fuel in conventional reactors—especially light water reactors such as Sizewell B.