To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has made any request, or otherwise indicated, that it wishes to extend the operating life of the B205 reprocessing plant at Sellafield beyond its current planned closure date of 2012. (163672)

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has indicated, in its recently published three-year Business Plan, that logistical issues at Sellafield mean that it will not be possible to complete reprocessing of spent fuel from Magnox reactors within the original planned time scales. Consequently, it is likely that the reprocessing of Magnox spent fuel, which was due to be completed by around 2012, will not be completed until 2016 or later.

The NDA is committed to consulting widely on the implications of any changes to the currently approved Magnox Operating Plan version 7.