§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 29 July 1998,Official Report, columns 357–58, if he will indicate the exact (a) quantities, (b) origins and (c) types of nuclear materials withdrawn permanently from safeguards; and if he will list those occasions when nuclear materials were put directly to military uses. [55444]
§ Mr. BattleAs part of the outcome of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) the Government initiated a process of declassification and historical accounting for defence fissile material production. Linked to this will be a study of data on past withdrawals from safeguards to determine what additional information on these withdrawals can be made public. In addition, as indicated in the announcement of the SDR, information on future withdrawals of nuclear material from safeguards will be published from time to time.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Bury, North (Mr. Chaytor) of 16 July 1998,Official Report, column 282, what research his Department has carried out into the ways of safeguarding vitrified plutonium; and what assessment he has made of safeguards applied by (a) the International Atomic Energy Agency and (b) Euratom. [55451]
§ Mr. BattleMy Department has not undertaken detailed examination of the safeguards aspects of vitrification as an option for disposal of separated plutonium (UK experience has, to date, been in respect of using separated plutonium in the manufacture of MOX fuel and the measures necessary to safeguard the kind of facilities which are involved). We have, however, contributed to more general international studies, involving both the IAEA and Euratom, of safeguards issues associated with the disposal of irradiated fuel in geological repositories; i.e. issues not dissimilar to those raised by the vitrification option for disposal of separated plutonium. The output from these studies is being assessed by the international safeguards inspectorates.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what quantities of uranium the Energy Resources of Australia company proposes to import into 1047W the United Kingdom; how much has been imported to date; and what is the role of Euratom in respect of such imports. [55418]
§ Mr. BattleThe companies concerned regard information on the quantities imported as commercially confidential. I am satisfied that there is a reasonable expectation that disclosure of this information would harm their competitive position and that, in accordance with the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, the information requested should be protected from disclosure.
The role of Euratom is set out in the Agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of Australia concerning transfers of nuclear material from Australia to the European Atomic Energy Community which was signed in 1981 (Cmnd. 8799). Under the terms of the 1957 Euratom Treaty the uranium imported, like all civil nuclear material in the UK, is subject to Euratom Safeguards. In addition the imports are notified to the Euratom Supply Agency which monitors the supply of nuclear material to the Community.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority changed the name of its decommissioning and radioactive waste management programme from Drawmops to Safer; and when he expects to respond to the report by Arthur D. Little consultants on the programme, published on 19 August. [55419]
§ Mr. BattleThe UKAEA announced the change in name of its decommissioning and radioactive waste management programme from DRAWMOPS (Decommissioning and Radioactive Waste Management Operations) to SAFER (Safe Environmental Remediation) in December 1997 via its staff newspaper "Nucleus". The change of name is for UKAEA internal purposes; the DTI and other government Departments refer to this programme as the UKAEA Nuclear Decommissioning programme.
The response, in the form of an implementation plan, of the DTI and the UKAEA to the report by Arthur D. Little consultants on the programme was included with the full evaluation report, released on 19 August 1998. Publication arrangements were set out in the DTI press releases P/98/646 and copies of both the summary and full reports are available in the House library.
§ Ms Roseanna CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether there is currently any Japanese highly enriched uranium spent fuel on site at BNFL's Sellafield plant which is due to be transferred to the United States of America; whether any further Japanese highly enriched uranium spent fuel is due to arrive at Sellafield on its way to the United States of America; and under what agreement this temporary storage of Japanese spent fuel at Sellafield takes place. [55491]
§ Mr. BattleFor many years it has been US policy that high enriched uranium fuel supplied by the US for research reactors in Japan and other countries should, when spent, be repatriated for safe management. BNFL have had contracts to ship the spent fuel from Japan (and elsewhere) to the US. This reactor fuel forms part of larger shipments of other material destined for Sellafield1048W and for operational reasons has been taken there in preparation for transhipment to the US. There is at present no fuel of this sort at Sellafield nor are any shipments scheduled (though they may take place in future). This and all other activities at Sellafield are regulated under the Nuclear Site Licence granted by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.
§ Ms Roseanna CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much highly enriched uranium spent fuel owned by foreign customers remains on site at Dounreay; how much is due to be transferred to the United States of America; and what is the condition of this spent fuel. [55490]
§ Mr. BattleI have asked the Chairman of the UKAEA for this information and his reply will be placed in the Library of the House.