Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will publish his Department's timetable for progressing the management of separated plutonium stocks.

In January 2014 the NDA published a position paper on the progress it made on assessing options to manage separated plutonium, including the Government’s preferred option of reusing plutonium as MOX fuel, as well as the credibility of alternative proposals. Following this, Government concluded that all options for plutonium management required further work. We asked the NDA to undertake this work which we expect to be delivered in Spring 2015. When this information has been collated, DECC will begin the necessary Government process to decide whether or not to proceed into a formal selection process. However to be clear, only when the Government is confident that its preferred option could be implemented safely and securely, that it is affordable, deliverable, and offers value for money, will it be in a position to proceed.