HC Deb 18 February 1998 vol 306 cc657-8W
Mr. Chaytor

To ask the President of the Board of Trade for what reasons Her Majesty's Government have agreed to exempt military plutonium in the United Kingdom from safeguards applied by the International Atomic Energy Agency's guidelines for the management of plutonium. [28470]

Mrs. Roche

The guidelines for the management of plutonium were agreed among an informal group of nine countries, including the United Kingdom, to improve transparency and public confidence in the management of national holdings of civil plutonium. (I refer my hon. Friend to the reply my hon. Friend the Minister for Science, Energy and Industry gave on 2 December 1997,Official Report, column 164. The guidelines apply to the management of all plutonium in all peaceful nuclear activities, and to other plutonium after it has been designated by the Government concerned as no longer required for defence purposes.

All nuclear material, including plutonium, which is required by the United Kingdom for national security reasons is specifically excluded from IAEA safeguards

Mrs. Roche

Companies are always subject to the national laws of the countries in which they operate. We are, in addition, pressing for the MAI to have closely associated with it the 1976 OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises which encourage good corporate behaviour.