HC Deb 06 April 1998 vol 310 cc66-7W
Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what quantities of spent fuel have been delivered under contract to Sellafield from Japanese utilities to date; what further quantities of irradiated fuel are due to be delivered to British Nuclear Fuels under the same contracts; and what measures concerning(a) physical safety and (b) emergency preparations cover such shipments. [37847]

Mr. Battle

Specific details relating to contractual quantities of spent fuel delivered, or still due to be delivered, to Sellafield are a matter for British Nuclear Fuels plc and its customers.

United Kingdom companies involved in the transport of nuclear material by sea use ships which meet the International Maritime Organisation's Code for the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Wastes in Flasks on board Ships (INF Code). All international movements of nuclear material carried out by the United Kingdom comply fully with the requirements of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and with the international guidelines on physical protection published by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the President of the Board of Trade when BNFL plans to return to Japan the(a) low, (b) intermediate and (c) high level radioactive waste arising from the reprocessing of contracted spent fuel; how many shipments per year are required to return to Japan each category of radioactive waste from reprocessing; what quantities of reprocessed plutonium are planned to be returned to Japan each year; and over what period this return transport is planned to take place. [37848]

Mr. Battle

Since 1976, all British Nuclear Fuels plc new contracts for the reprocessing of overseas spent fuel have contained options for the return of wastes. The Government intend that such options should be exercised and that wastes arising from reprocessing be returned to countries of origin.

The detailed arrangements for implementing these waste return options and for returning plutonium are an operational matter for BNFL and its overseas customers in accordance with the terms of the contracts between them.