Written question asked by Llew Smith (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 January 1998, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 29 January 1998. It was answered by John Battle (Labour) on Thursday, 29 January 1998 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, what quantities of spent nuclear fuel, from which (a) countries and (b) utilities, is stockpiled at Sellafield awaiting reprocessing; and what information she has received from British Nuclear Fuels in regard to when it will be reprocessed. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what quantities of spent nuclear fuel, from which (a) countries and (b) utilities, is stockpiled at Sellafield awaiting reprocessing; and what information she has received from British Nuclear Fuels in regard to when it will be reprocessed. [25062] Mr. Battle: The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) has a total of 7,000 tonnes of fuel to be reprocessed during the Baseload (first ten year) period. I understand that, as at end of 1996-97, there were over 6,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel awaiting reprocessing at Thorp and approximately 550 tonnes of spent magnox fuel, awaiting reprocessing at the magnox reprocessing plant. This fuel is owned by utilities in the United Kingdom and in overseas countries, including Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Decisions relating to the timing of reprocessing of the contracted quantities of spent nuclear fuel owned by individual utilities are an operational matter for BNFL.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 25062; 305 c356W
Session: 1997-98
Subjects: British Nuclear Fuels Radioactive waste Nuclear fuel reprocessing THORP Sellafield Magnox Electric
Contains statistics: Yes