HC Deb 20 October 1975 vol 898 cc65-8W
Mr. Dalyell

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether, in view of the potential of HTR for nuclear steelmaking, he will take steps not to disband the Dragon project.

Mr. Eadie

The OECD's Dragon project, an experimental high temperature reactor, sited at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's establishment at Winfrith, has been a successful international venture. Since its inception in 1959 it has been extended five times.

The current agreement between the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, the European Communities, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria, expires on 31st March 1976. However, escalating costs have reduced the funds remaining to a level which will compel termination by the end of 1975 unless a further extension is agreed upon.

Mr. Eadie

I have asked the Chairman of the National Coal Board to write to my hon. Friend on this matter.

Mr. George Grant

asked the Secretary of State for Energy how many opencast sites he has authorised during 1975; what are the locations; and what is the expected total yield from each site.

Mr. Eadie

The information is given as follows:

Staff seconded to the project have already been given notice of desecondment and under present arrangements will return to their parent laboratories on 6th December 1975.

Since April of this year the Dragon signatories have been trying to settle their collective policy on a proposed five-year extension of the project. The United Kingdom has been aware of the risk that exhaustion of funds during the current extension might lead to premature termination of the project before a decision on a further extension could be reached. It was for this reason that in April the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority made it clear that it was ready to bear its share of the costs to prevent closure before 31st March 1976, if the other signatories could do likewise. Unfortunately this arrangement was not acceptable to the other partners.

We have a high regard for the achievement of the team at Winfrith. But there is no place currently allotted for a HTR in the forward programmes of our electricity boards. The Government's White Paper of July 1974 (Cmnd. 5695) accepted that we would not have the resources for a substantial effort on HTR against the much higher priority accorded to SGHWR and the fast reactor. In current circumstances the Government, in agreement with the nuclear industry, the Atomic Energy Authority, the electricity boards and the Trades Union Congress have concluded that the benefit to the United Kingdom's nuclear programme of the proposed extension would not justify us in continuing to bear the substantial costs which we would incur as the largest single contributor to the project. Accordingly, looked at from the standpoint of our own nuclear reactor policies, the Government are not in favour of a further extension of the project.

However, we are conscious of our special position as the host country and would not wish to see the project brought to an end if the other signatories wished to continue work at Winfrith under a new financial regime. To enable our partners to make new arrangements to continue the project if they wish to do so we have informed them—on 30th September—that we are prepared to provide support to give them time to do this. We are prepared to bear our present share of the costs to the end of June 1976 if the other partners will do likewise. Because desecondment will take effect on 6th December, if this offer is not accepted, we have made it conditional upon acceptance by 30th November.

As the largest single contributor and host country we recognised that our decision was of great importance to the future of the project and the staff engaged on it. We therefore made the offer to our partners at the earliest possible moment.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what reaction he has had from the United Kingdom partners in the Dragon HTR project to his proposal to extend the present arrangements till June 1976 on condition they agree to accept this by 30th November.

Mr. Benn

The signatories to the Dragon agreement are the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), Sweden, Switzerland and Austria. My proposal to extend the present arrangements until June 1976 was made in order to give the signatories other than the UKAEA time to make alternative arrangements under a new financial régime if they wished to continue the project.

The proposal is under discussion in the Council of the European Communities and no formal response has yet been received.