Nuclear Power: Review (Hansard, 3 May 1994)

§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Strathclyde)
My Lords, the Government will make an announcement about the terms of reference, the timetable and the format of the nuclear review as soon as possible. The conclusions will be made available to Parliament.

§ Lord Jay
My Lords, would it not have been better if the Government had carried out the review into the true costs of nuclear power production before and not after they had destroyed the coal industry?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, the two issues are not linked at all. The nuclear review was originally announced by my noble friend the Leader of the House of Lords when he was Secretary of State for Energy, and the commitment was reaffirmed when we undertook the Coal Review in 1992. The Government will not be rushed into premature announcements of this very important review. I cannot of course prejudge the terms of reference.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, can my noble friend give an assurance that in considering the terms of reference for this review the Government will include the future of the fossil fuel levy, which the nuclear industry believes it can now do without—to the benefit of course of all electricity consumers?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, my noble friend puts forward a very helpful suggestion. I shall feed it in to the team that is looking at the terms of reference, which we shall of course announce as soon as possible.

§ Lord Morris of Castle Morris
My Lords, does the Minister recall that when I asked him on 30th January 1994 a Question very much like the one that we have just heard, the Answer was almost word for word the same as the one he has just given? I asked him to confirm that the review would indeed look at the use to which the nuclear levy is put since it appears to us that it is being used to subsidise current operations and he very kindly offered to feed my representations in to the review procedure. Is he aware that the Sussex University study is reported today as saying that the nuclear levy is indeed being used for other things and will hardly contribute to dismantling costs? May I ask him again: is that true, or is it not?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, again, these are the kinds of issues that will be looked at very carefully when the review takes place. As I said in response to an earlier question this afternoon—and indeed to previous questions that have been put on previous days—we shall have to wait for the announcement of the review before that process can take place.

§ Lord Ezra
My Lords, in replying to the supplementary question of the noble Lord, Lord Jay, the Minister said that coal and nuclear had no connection. But of course they have. Indeed, all forms of energy have a connection. How would it be possible for the nuclear industry to be looked at in isolation? Can the noble Lord give us an assurance that it will be looked at in the context of general energy policy?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, I think that the point that the noble Lord, Lord Jay, was making was that somehow this was to do with the destruction of the coal industry. It was to that that I did not believe the Question should be related. I cannot prejudge the terms of reference. But no doubt those who are looking at the terms of reference will have listened carefully to what the noble Lord said.

The Earl of Halsbury
My Lords, from whom do the Government take evidence in these inquiries? For example, would I be allowed to air my views?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, I do not suppose that anybody could stop the noble Earl from making his views known. Already the Government have received a number of representations about the review from Members of both Houses and other interested parties. There will be nothing to stop the noble Earl making his views known if he has not yet done so.

§ Lord Jenkins of Putney
My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that the costs of dismantling and dismembering the nuclear stations are estimated to be from very expensive to frantically and impossibly expensive? Will the Minister ensure that this matter is properly fed in to the committee? Quite clearly it is a very important factor which the committee will wish to consider very fully.

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, I cannot be drawn on this now, and I cannot prejudge the terms of reference.

§ Lord Jay
My Lords, should the review show that the true cost of nuclear power production, including decommissioning, waste disposal and interest charges, exceeds that of coal-fired stations, what will the Government do then?

§ Lord Strathclyde
My Lords, that of course is purely hypothetical. We shall have to see the results of the review.