Lord Dunleathasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they consider that expenditure of £1.6 million by the Central Electricity Generating Board in demonstrating that their nuclear waste skips could not be destroyed in a rail crash was a provident appropriation of public funds at a time of high unemployment and the national need for revenue-earning investment.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Avon)Yes. The safe transport by rail of irradiated nuclear fuel is an essential part of the Central Electricity Generating Board's nuclear generating programme, which is a revenue-earning investment.