§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will place his Department's proposals for decommissioning civil nuclear power stations in the Library.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryThe Department of Energy has no proposals for decommissioning civil nuclear power stations. Decommissioning is a matter for nuclear power station operators to consider within the guidelines on safety and environmental protection set by the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate and Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will set out in convenient form the information he has on load factors of nuclear power stations in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) the USA, (c) France, (d) Germany, (e) Japan and (f) Brazil.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryThe information requested is set out in the table. The data are taken from the April 1991 edition of the JournalNuclear Engineering International.
410W
Country 1990 average load factor Lifetime load factor to end 1990 United Kingdom 51.8 49.2 United States of America 64.6 59.4 France 62.9 62.3
Country 1990 average load factor Lifetime load factor to end 1990 Percentage Percentage Germany 68.4 71.9 Japan 71.2 67.9 Brazil 39.2 22.3 The load factor is defined as the ratio of electricity generated to potential generation if the plant in question operated continuously at its design capacity.
Comparisons of load factors between countries should be treated with caution. For a variety of reasons, they do not necessarily reflect the operating availability of reactors.