HC Deb 15 November 2001 vol 374 cc846-7W
Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list each of the buildings at Sellafield which have facility arrangements and particular safeguards provisions in place for the application of international safeguards; and, for each building or group of buildings, when the safeguards provisions came into effect. [14688]

Mr. Wilson

The European Commission has provided particular safeguards provisions for a total of 28 Material Balance Areas at the BNFL Sellafield facility. Facility Attachments for the two parts of the BNFL Sellafield facility (Special Nuclear Materials Store 9 and the THORP Plutonium Product Store) that the IAEA has designated for routine inspection have been drawn-up with the European Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Under Exemption 1.1 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, disclosure of detailed information on nuclear material accountancy arrangements, including the description and location of Material Balance Areas, would harm national security and would not be in the public interest.

Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the annual cost of storing plutonium at Sellafield; and what proportion of the cost is recovered from overseas customers. [14693]

Mr. Wilson

This is a commercial matter for BNFL and its customers, under Exemption 13—Third Party's Commercial Confidences—of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.