Nuclear Power (Hansard, 7 September 2004)

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the proportions of expenditure by the planned nuclear decommissioning authority that will be Tent on(a) discharging nuclear liabilities, (b) funding nuclear spent fuel reprocessing and (c) power generation. [184397]

§ Mr. Timms
The 2004 Spending Review announced on 12 July provided funding, subject to the successful adoption of the then Energy Bill (now the Energy Act), for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) of approximately £2 billion per year including income from trading.
The NDA will set out its spending priorities for 2005–06 in its first annual plan. The draft plan will be subject to public consultation during this autumn. The Secretary of State will approve the plan early next year.
In autumn 2005, the NDA will publish its strategy for the first five years of its operation. This too will provide further information on spending priorities.

§ Norman Baker
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the(a) total costs to date and (b) projected future costs to public funds are of decommissioning nuclear power stations; and if she will make a statement. [184578]

§ Mr. Timms
The Government's July 2002 White Paper, "Managing the Nuclear Legacy: A strategy for action", estimated the undiscounted cost of the Magnox decommissioning liabilities at £12 billion and the total cost of treating civil public sector nuclear liabilities at £48 billion. From April 2005, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will take responsibility for the Magnox power stations, all of which are scheduled to close by 2010.
1037W
The cost of decommissioning British Energy's nuclear power stations, which are all operational, is covered in its annual report and accounts. Under British Energy's proposed restructuring plan, the company will continue to contribute to a Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF) that will meet British Energy's decommissioning liabilities. To ensure safety and environmental protection, the Government will underwrite the NLF to the extent that the company's contributions are insufficient. The treatment of liabilities by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL), including Magnox, is also discussed in BNFL's accounts.

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment has been made by her office of civil nuclear security is respect of providing guidance to(a) nuclear operators, (b) regulators, (c) other non-departmental public bodies and (d) relevant Government Departments on the release of sensitive nuclear information. [187306]

§ Mr. Timms
Such guidance has been issued by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) and is available on the DTI website.

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what additional protection measures have been taken at(a) Sellafield, (b) other nuclear sites operated by BNFL and (c) nuclear installations operated by the UK Atomic Energy Authority since 11 September 2001. [187307]

§ Mr. Timms
The UK's civil nuclear sites apply stringent security measures regulated by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS), the security regulator. The security regulator works closely with the Health and Safety Executive, the safety regulator, which provides advice on the safety implications of events, including external hazards such as plane crashes, at nuclear installations. Security at nuclear sites is kept under regular review in the light of the prevailing threat and has been significantly enhanced since the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001. Under Exemption 1—information whose disclosure would harm national security—of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, it is not Government policy to disclose details of these measures which could potentially be of use to terrorists.

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the report published by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on 22 July or assessing the risk of terrorist attacks on nuclear facilities. [187304]

§ Mr. Timms
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology report is an excellent overview of the publicly-available information in this field. My Department and the civil nuclear industry were among the many who contributed in providing the public domain information required for the report.

§ Llew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the additional requirements for personnel vetting that will arise from the contractorisation of(a) nuclear waste management and (b) nuclear installation decommissioning under the guidance of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. [187284]
1038W

§ Mr. Timms
Security vetting for the civil nuclear industry is conducted by the Office for Civil Security (OCNS). We believe that the initial impact of the formation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency (NDA) on vetting requirements will be within existing resources. However, as the NDA moves toward open bidding for contracts, OCNS will monitor the situation closely in order to ensure that the high standards of vetting within the civil nuclear industry are maintained.