§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Islington, North (Mr. Corbyn) of 31 July 1998,Official Report, column 725, what are the proposed future defence purposes to which the nuclear material recovered from WE177 warheads will be put. [55442]
§ Mr. George RobertsonPlutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium recovered from dismantled weapons will be held against requirements arising from our nuclear warhead and propulsion programmes.
§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what factors underlay his decision to withhold details of the costs of the fuelling of Trident submarine reactors and of the costs of importing highly enriched uranium for the fabrication of nuclear fuel rods for the submarine propulsion reactors. [55415]
§ Mr. George RobertsonThe information requested on the costs of the fuelling of Trident submarine reactors could, when combined with other data already in the public domain, provide nuclear proliferators and potential opponents with an insight into the design and performance 19W of the United Kingdom's nuclear powered submarines. This would harm UK national security and defence and, therefore, is being withheld under Exemption 1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information relating to defence, security and international relations. However, reflecting the new openness on nuclear matters that I announced in the Strategic Defence Review, I am prepared to confirm that the most recent procurement of highly enriched uranium for Defence purposes was made at a rate of $40m per tonne.