HL Deb 28 March 1974 vol 350 cc796-8WA
LORD AVEBURY

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish a table showing, for all pressurised water reactors built or planned in the United States, the name of the utility; the name of the station; the original date expected for full power operation; the actual or presently expected date of operation at the power specified in the current Atomic Energy Commission licence; the date on which the order was signed; the date on which the construction licence was awarded by the Atomic Energy Commission; the design net output; the net output permitted under the current Atomic Energy Commission licence; the maximum non-transient net output achieved; the original contract sum for the station; the actual capital cost of the station including the first fuel charge and interest during construction but excluding land, indirect taxation and Atomic Energy Commission licence fees, the lengths and dates of any outages during 1972 and 1973 respectively and their causes, and the number of steam generator tubes plugged or replaced during 1972 and 1973 respectively; whether any representatives of the Central Electricity Generating Board, the National Nuclear Corporation or the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate have visited the Atomic Energy Commission's Idaho safety research facility since the beginning of 1973; and, if so, whether they will place a copy of any report made on the visit in the Library of the House of Lords; and whether they will place in the Library of the House of Lords a copy of the Atomic Energy Commission's Emergency Core Cooling Systems rulemaking hearings (reference RM-50–1).

THE MINISTER OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (LORD BALOGH)

I am arranging to have placed in the Library of the House of Lords copies of the following published documents, which contain most of the technical information requested:

  1. (i) U.S. Government Printing Office document WASH-1208 (12–73) which contains the name of the utility; the name of the station; the actual or presently expected date of operation at the power specified in the current Atomic Energy Commission licence; the date on which the order was signed; the date on which the construction licence was awarded by the Atomic Energy Commission; and the design net output;
  2. (ii) the journal Power Engineering for November, 1973, giving information on original dates expected for operation;
  3. (iii) Central Station Nuclear Plants published by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission which contains information on net output permitted under the current U.S. Atomic Energy Commission licence as at December 31, 1973, and also information on capital costs;
  4. (iv) the journal Nuclear Industry for January, 1974, giving information on the duration and causes of outages for the period September to December, 1973; such information is published in this journal at intervals of about four months;
  5. (v) the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission publication Operating History of U.S. Nuclear Power Reactors (WASH-1203–72) which also deals with the reasons for outages.

The maximum non-transient net output so far achieved for individual reactors is not officially published and would have to be obtained from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission or from individual utilities.

The number of steam generator tubes plugged or replaced during the last two calendar years cannot be obtained without individual inquiry to each utility operating pressurised water reactors.

There has been at least one visit to the Idaho Falls safety research facility since January 1, 1973, by Central Electricity Generating Board staff. No member of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has visited the facility since late 1971 but the Inspectorate have been in touch with developments there in the meantime. Further visits have not been considered necessary up to the present. There have been no visits by the staff of the National Nuclear Corporation.

The transcript of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Emergency Core Cooling Systems rule-making hearings is available in the Public Document Room in Washington but has not been printed for public sale. The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate are familiar with the relevant aspects of the hearings. The transcript is over 20,000 pages in length and would need to be copied on the public machine in the Document Room. For these reasons I do not think it justified to obtain a copy for the Library.