HC Deb 21 February 1977 vol 926 cc1008-10
2. Mr. Gray

asked the Secretary of State for Energy when he next hopes to meet the Chairman of the UKAEA.

The Secretary of State for Energy (Mr. Anthony Wedgwood Benn)

My Department is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, and I meet the chairman as necessary from time to time.

Mr. Gray

When the Secretary of State next meets the chairman, will he pay particular attention to his view that there is no realistic alternative to a strong nuclear programme in the future? With that in mind, will the right hon. Gentleman emphasise to the chairman the necessity of publicising at all times the outstanding safety record of the nuclear industry in this country so that this can do something to counter the hysterical attitude being adopted in certain quarters?

Mr. Benn

I dealt with this in the debate that took place 10 days ago. I paid tribute to the record of safety. I hope that the House will not think that all those who raise questions about nuclear safety are hysterical, because they are not. The Royal Commission has drawn attention to certain problems, and I would expect that both the chairman and the responsible Minister in the House would want to take a measured view on these matters.

Mr. Palmer

Is the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Authority pressing my right hon. Friend for a decision on the commercial fast breeder reactor, as a decision was promised for last autumn?

Mr. Benn

There is a great deal of interest in the next decision on the fast breeder reactor. In view of the Royal Commission's report and its request for more time, it seems to be right that there should be time. Whatever the timing of the decision, there are many people who think that the construction of the fast breeder reactor will probably come later, by which time it is to be hoped that many of these questions will be resolved.

Mr. Skeet

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that, because of the indecision and the argument between his Department and the Department of the Environment over the thermal oxide processing plant at Windscale, we stand a very real chance of losing a valuable Japanese contract? What will the right hon. Gentleman do to accelerate the correct policy?

Mr. Benn

There is no indecision. In March of last year, speaking as the Minister responsible for nuclear power, I made a statement. The planning inquiry procedure, which is in the hands of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, is designed to safeguard the public interest. If we were to reach the point where the application of planning inquiries and the use of them for the purposes for which they were intended were to be described as indecision, that would be a very bad day.

Mr. Wigley

Will the right hon. Gentleman tell the House whether he has in front of him any proposals from the Atomic Energy Authority or the CEGB, or both organisations combined, for addi- tional atomic power stations? When he meets the chairman will he ask him, rather than to put new power stations on green field sites, to turn his attention to the extension of the life of existing power stations, which otherwise might become hulks of radioactivity indefinitely?

Mr. Benn

I do not know that I can answer the particular point that the hon. Gentleman raises. I shall write to him about it. The main concern, which I share, is that the decision about the next generation or the next group of thermal power stations should be reached. In this respect, the Atomic Energy Authority last summer recommended that I should re-examine the case for the SGHWR, which was the decision taken in 1974. Any indecision that there may be, if that is the charge, arises from the fact that the AEA has asked the Government to look again at a decision already taken and already publicised.