To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what volumes of plutonium arising from foreign nuclear fuel reprocessed at (a) Sellafield and (b) Dounreay remain (i) under safeguards in storage at each respective site and (ii) have been returned to the country or countries of origin.

I am advised that up to March 1990 some 3·5 tonnes of plutonium from the reprocessing of overseas spent fuel had been returned to its country of origin or sent to a country specified by the owner of the plutonium; all of this was from reprocessing of spent fuel at Sellafield. At the end of March 1990, British Nuclear Fuels plc held some 0·5 tonnes of extracted plutonium at Sellafield on behalf of overseas customers. None was held in store at Dounreay. All civil nuclear materials remain subject to Euratom safeguards and to the terms of the United Kingdom/Euratom/IAEA safeguards agreement.