HC Deb 09 June 1999 vol 332 cc343-4W
Mr. Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what date the details of the United Kingdom safety and security plans covering the sea shipment to Japan from Sellafield of plutonium-based MOX fuel was communicated to the Japanese Government and Japanese nuclear authorities; and what response he received. [85826]

Mr. Battle

Under the terms of the 1988 US-Japan Nuclear Co-operation Agreement, it is the responsibility of the Government of Japan to prepare and to submit to the United States Administration a transport plan covering arrangements for the sea shipment of Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel from Europe to Japan. This transport plan was prepared in close consultation with the Governments of France and the United Kingdom and submitted to the United States Government in January 1999. In May 1999, the United States Government confirmed that the transport plan fully satisfied the provisions of Annex 5 of the US-Japan Agreement.