Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the plutonium stockpile.

The vast majority of civil separated plutonium in the UK is managed at Sellafield, but all of it is stored in custom built facilities, specially designed to keep it safe and secure.

The UK Government remains open to any credible option that offers the best value for money to the taxpayer. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) are undertaking work for us to:

1) gain further understanding of reuse options (reuse as MOX and assessment of the credible alternatives PRISM and Candu);

2) continue to develop the immobilisation option; and

3) establish potential approaches to acquisition and procurement.

The NDA are in the process of submitting this advice to support DECC in its considerations. This, together with other sources of information and evidence, will enable DECC to consider options for the way forward. A decision will be made by ministers on how to proceed in due course.

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.