HC Deb 14 November 1967 vol 754 cc200-1
15. Mr. Wall

asked the Minister of Technology what progress is being made with the design of a nuclear reactor for surface ships; and if he will make a statement.

Dr. Bray

It has long been technically feasible to design and build a small nuclear reactor to power a ship, and the U.K.A.E.A. keep under continuous review improvements in reactor and nuclear fuel technology, in the special context of ship application. But the use of a nuclear propulsion unit depends on the economics of its operation which are related more to the need for high power and intensive utilisation than to reactor design.

Mr. Wall

Can the Minister say whether there is a suitable reactor in existence today? How many types of reactor are there now under study, and can we really get very much further until we have a prototype ship at sea?

Dr. Bray

Yes, there certainly are reactors which can be fitted or developed for nuclear propulsion, but this is not the problem. It is the economic requirements of the ship.

Mr. Hooley

Is my hon. Friend aware that four of our major industrial competitors, the U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Japan and Germany, all have prototypes of this kind of ship in action? Is it not high time the shipbuilding industry woke up?

Dr. Bray

We are in constant touch with both the shipbuilders and shipowners, but it does not help the economic and rational development of advanced technology in this country if we ignore valid economic considerations.

Sir H. Legge-Bourke

While nobody will dispute that final observation, will the hon. Gentleman agree that the more one studies the paper read by Mr. Teesdale in March this year to the Royal Institute of Naval Architects about composite nuclear powered merchantman the more one comes to the conclusion that there is a serious need to re-establish something like the Padmore Committee to go into this all over again?

Dr. Bray

I am not sure that a committee is the right way to tackle this. There are evolutionary developments, of which the container ship is a recent and very interesting example, in shipbuilding I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we are not waiting for a committee to study this sort of question.

Mr. Speaker

Sir Ian Orr-Ewing.

Sir Ian Orr-Ewing

I was going to ask whether container ships have not in fact revolutionised the position, but the Minister has just said so.