Nuclear Materials (Hansard, 19 December 2002)

§ Mr. Wilson

The Department has now completed putting in place a fairly complex project and risk management framework to allow us to commit substantial UK funding to assist Russia in particular through our Former Soviet Union Nuclear Legacy Programme. The budget for this programme is some £32 million next year and is expected to run at least this level for the foreseeable future. The programme covers a wide range of nuclear legacy issues including supporting work on weapons plutonium disposition, closed nuclear cities, nuclear safety technical assistance, nuclear security projects, social consequences projects and contributing funding to multilateral projects on decommissioning and the Chernobyl Shelter.

A number of important projects have already been identified and the means of delivery is now in place to assist in tackling the nuclear legacy in NW Russia an area where we expect up to a third of our funding to be focused over the next few years. UK grant-aid funding for work to provide for the safe management of spent nuclear fuel stocks and for dismantling decommissioned nuclear submarines is therefore ready to flow now. However, before this funding can commence with actual projects on the ground, a suitable legal framework must be agreed with Russia to cover important issues such as third part liability, taxation and access. Hopefully, and after some delay, we are in the final stages of concluding just such a bilateral agreement under which substantive project work will begin. A similar multilateral agreement is also, again hopefully, in its final stages and will provide the mechanism for substantial multilateral assistance. I would emphasise however that the delay in signing the bilateral agreement has not delayed the preparation of projects and a number will be ready to go as soon as the agreement is in place next year.

The nuclear legacy in NW Russia, as represented by the 100 or so decommissioned nuclear submarines and their associated spent fuel and waste, is such that it is only by active bilateral and multilateral funding that they can be tackled quickly and safely. The UK is 899W playing a leading role in ensuring co-operation and coordination with Russia and between the various donor countries in order that this funding is effective.

Attending the Baltic Conference of Energy Ministers in Vilnius, Lithuania in November, I committed —700,000 to purchase and install physical protection equipment for two Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers. During this visit I also met with representatives of the UK industry actively involved in planning for the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power station and ameliorating the social consequences of nuclear power plant closure. UK companies have vast experience in these areas and through our social consequences work, we are supporting a number of regeneration and economic projects in Lithuania and Ukraine.

We will be publishing the first annual report about progress in establishing this programme early next year and further details of specific projects and the programme will be made available on the DTI web site.