Annex B
NUCLEAR
Georgian Nuclear Material at Dounreay, Ninth Report
of 1997-98, HC 815: Government Response, Seventh Special Report,
HC 1130, pages xiii-xvii
1. The immediate occasions of the Committee's
inquiry were the revelation in April 1998 that some special nuclear
material from Georgia would be accepted at Dounreay: controversy
surrounding allegations on the policing of Dounreay and other
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) sites made by the
recently retired Chief Constable of the UKAEA Constabulary, leading
to a Private Notice Question in the House of Commons on 27 April
1998: and the interruption to the electricity supply to the Fuel
Cycle Area at Dounreay caused by contractors construction operations
on 7 May 1998. The Committee visited Dounreay in June 1998, hearing
oral evidence at Thurso, and heard oral evidence at Westminster
in July 1998. A report was agreed in July.
2. The Committee supported the decision
to accept the nuclear material at Dounreay, despite the subsequent
closure of the Fuel Cycle Area, while criticising the confusion
over the composition of the consignment. It concluded that there
should be greater transparency at Dounreay and at UKAEA sites
generally and that the Directorate of Civil Nuclear Security should
be put on a more independent footing.
3. The Reply was received in October 1998.
It welcomed the Committee's views and accepted most of the specific
recommendations.
4. Developments at Dounreay since mid-1998
and in particular the major HSE Safety Audit carried out in the
autumn of 1998, are set out in the Committee's Fifth Report of
1999-2000 (see below).
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