Sellafield (Hansard, 2 February 1993)

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many submissions were received by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution on 25 January, in response to British Nuclear Fuel's application for authorisation for the new thermal oxide reprocessing plant, and associated facilities, at Sellafield; how many of these submissions were in support of BNFL applications; and what proportion of the total submissions came from abroad.

§ Mr. Maclean
On 25 January, HMIP received some 16,000 representations, the majority of which appear to support the proposals, but at present HMIP does not have a detailed breakdown of these figures.
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§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account his decision on the authorisation for the licensing of the thermal oxide reprocessing plant at Sellafield will make of the letter sent to him in October by the chairman of the Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee on the British Nuclear Fuels plc proposals to implement a curie equivalence substitution plan for the management of nuclear waste arising from reprocessing of foreign spent fuel at Sellafield.

§ Mr. Maclean
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 27 January, at column769.

§ Mr. Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) of 30 October 1992,Official Report, column 859, if he has yet received the report of the nuclear waste borehole public inquiry in Cumbria.

§ Mr. Baldry
There will be no report to the Secretary of State in this case. The planning appeals concerned will be decided by an inspector. That is a matter for the Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency, and I have arranged for the chief executive to reply.
Letter from Mr. H. S. Crow to Mr. Llew Smith, dated 1 February 1992: The Secretary of State has asked me to provide the reply to your Parliamentary Question about the nuclear waste borehole inquiry in Cumbria, as this is a matter for the Planning Inspectorate Executive Agency. The planning appeals by British Nuclear Fuels, relating to proposed exploratory boreholes near Gosforth, are to be decided by the Inspector who held the inquiry, as arranged, in November. The Inspector, Mr. P. Burden (who was appointed following the illness of the Inspector originally appointed, Mr. P. Rosser), is concluding his consideration of the case, and I expect his decision to be issued shortly.