Plutonium (Hansard, 11 December 2002)

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what quantities of plutonium owned by Swiss customers are held at Sellafield; in what form it is stored; and what arrangements exist for its return to Switzerland. [86137]

§ Mr. Wilson
The total amount of plutonium to be allocated to any one reprocessing customer is directly related to the total amount of spent fuel that customer has contracted to be reprocessed. BNFL has contracts to reprocess at THORP 422 tonnes of spent fuel belonging to Swiss electricity generators. The total allocation of plutonium allocated to Swiss customers is a commercial and contractual matter for the owners of the spent fuel and BNFL as the provider of the reprocessing service. However, approximately 1 per cent. of each tonne of spent fuel will be plutonium.
Certain Swiss reprocessing customers have already concluded contracts for the manufacture of MOX fuel, making use of their plutonium dioxide, and these contracts are in the process of being fulfilled. Accordingly, plutonium currently held at Sellafield on behalf of Swiss customers is held in three forms: spent fuel, separated plutonium dioxide and fresh MOX fuel. In addition, some Swiss owned plutonium dioxide has already been made into MOX fuel and used in Swiss reactors. All Swiss plutonium is expected to be returned to Switzerland in the form of MOX fuel.

§ Alan Simpson
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information her Department has(a) received and (b) sought from BNFL Westinghouse in the United States on its plutonium immobilisation programme. [86168]

§ Mr. Wilson
None. I have been informed that BNFL/Westinghouse in the United States does not have a plutonium immobilisation programme in its portfolio of work.

§ Alan Simpson
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what financial investment has been made by BNFL into immobilization of surplus plutonium at Sellafield; and if she will make a statement on progress to date with the immobilisation programme. [86167]
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§ Mr. Wilson
BNFL have informed me that as part of its work programme to examine the management options for stored separated plutonium, it is carrying out analysis of various technologies under assessment or study worldwide. BNFL's investment in the plutonium fuels related R&D is approximately £2 million per year.
The company is also examining alternative immobilisation techniques and technologies for those stocks which may prove difficult to convert into fuel. These non-fuel immobilisation technologies are currently in a development or exploratory stage, as they are throughout the world. The work being undertaken by BNFL is part of a wider investment in waste immobilisation technologies of some several million pounds each year; this includes an investment in the UK university base of some £2.5 million over five years.