Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Written Statement of 24 January 2025 on the Plutonium Disposition Strategy, what the results were of the plutonium fuel pellet manufacturing trials undertaken with Orano at its demonstration facility in France using UK-produced plutonium, which the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority stated in March 2019 were scheduled for completion in 2020.

The trials completed in 2020 demonstrated that Orano's MIMAS process for manufacturing LWR MOX fuel could be applied to some UK plutonium.

It was assessed that immobilisation will put the plutonium beyond reach sooner and with greater confidence than re-use.

Not all of the plutonium would be suitable for re-use in fuel, so an immobilisation programme would always be required for part of the inventory.