§ Q1. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Prime Minister if he will order the preparation of a co-ordinated programme for the development and application by Her Majesty's Government of nuclear energy for power generation and marine propulsion.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Macmillan)The Atomic Energy Authority is responsible for both these programmes, acting in conjunction with the respective industries. This ensures full technical co-ordination. Interdepartmental co-ordination is the responsibility of my noble Friend the Minister for Science.
§ Mr. DigbyIs my right hon. Friend aware that there is an apparent lack of balance, as we are spending £500 million on uneconomic nuclear power stations and we are not ordering a nuclear merchant ship on the ground that it is uneconomic, and, indeed, we are spending only £3 million in three years on research into marine propulsion?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that the research is going well, and what we are trying to do is to find a reactor which has a reasonable prospect of achieving economic superiority over conventional systems.