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BNF plutonium used in US tests

01 September 1994

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Following disclosure by the US Department of Energy, British Nuclear Fuels (BNF) has confirmed that civilian grade plutonium, from its Calder Hall and Chapelcross reactors, was used in US atomic bomb during tests in Nevada in 1962. The reprocessed material was supplied under the 1958 US/UK Mutual Defence Agreement, which has not been published.

The disclosure came soon after Foreign Affairs minister, Baroness Chalker, told the House of Lords that "reprocessed plutonium from commercially operated power stations is not suitable for weapons manufacture." The admission has cast serious doubt on the differentiation between "civil" and "military" types of plutonium and raised questions concerning the use of plutonium from commercial reactors in British nuclear weapons programmes.

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