Nuclear Tests Using British Civil Plutonium

EDM number 1476 in 1993-94, proposed by Llew Smith on 07/07/1994.

That this House welcomes the admission by the United States Energy Secretary, Hazel O'Leary, that a nuclear warhead test explosion carried out in 1962 used reactor grade plutonium originating from United Kingdom magnox reactors, exported to the United States of America under the 1958 US/UK Mutual Defense Agreement on atomic energy matters; notes that British origin plutonium was used because United States public law (97-415) prohibited the military use of plutonium produced in commercial reactors; believes the admission that nuclear warheads can be made to explode using civil reactor grade plutonium demonstrates the sheer stupidity of, and risks posed, by separating and exporting many thousands of kilogrammes of plutonium in THORP, when a nuclear warhead can be made with only five kilogrammes of plutonium; and calls for a halt in the further reprocessing of plutonium at Sellafield and any future plutonium exports.

This motion has been signed by a total of 27 MPs.