§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the President of the Board of Trade how many aircraft were involved in the transport of nuclear material from Georgia to Scotland; at what time aircraft departed Georgia and arrived in Scotland; what was the cost of(a) transporting and (b) storing the material; and if she will indicate the section of her departmental budget from which expenditures incurred on this arrangement will be drawn. [48834]
§ Mr. BattleAs the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North (Mr. Henderson), explained in an answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Dr. Stoate) on 24 April 1998,Official Report, column 721, one American military transport aircraft, a Galaxy C5, was used to fly all the nuclear material in the Georgian consignment to Kinloss.
The American authorities who were responsible for the details of the transportation of the nuclear material from Georgia, informed the relevant United Kingdom authorities that the time of departure of this aircraft from 213W Tbilisi airport was 1404 GMT on 23 April. It arrived at Kinloss at 0206 GMT on 24 April, after following a route along the Mediterranean Sea and over part of the Atlantic Ocean. It was refuelled twice in mid-air. A second American Galaxy C5, containing specialised handling equipment to assist with unloading the containers at the Dounreay site, left Tbilisi at 0800 GMT on 25 April and arrived at Kinloss at 1547 GMT the same day. This flight was shorter because it was across mainland Europe.
Transportation costs to Kinloss were borne by the American Government. The cost of transporting the nuclear material and the associated handling equipment from Kinloss to Dounreay was £40,000. The UKAEA have estimated the storage costs as approximately £5,000 per annum. These costs will be charged under the DTI budget heading Class V Vote 1 Section A6 'Energy: Nuclear and Non-Nuclear' (b) UKAEA Grant-in-Aid.