§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much public money has been given to the MOX Plant at Sellafield in each year since 1990; what the projected sums are for future years; and if she will make a statement. [187524]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe construction and operation of the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) has been funded by BNFL from income from the company's commercial operations. No publicly voted money has been provided to the company.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which will become operational from 1 April 2005, will assume full financial responsibility for the UK's civil public sector nuclear assets and liabilities.
A number of BNFL's assets will transfer to the NDA in April 2005, including SMP. Money voted by Parliament intended for the clean up programme will not be used to subsidise commercial operations such as SMP.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much revenue was forecast to be generated by the MOX Plant at Sellafield at its inception in each year to 2004; what the outturn has been; what the projections are for future years; and if she will make a statement. [187525]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe Government commissioned an independent review of the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) economic case by Arthur D. Little in 2001. The consultants analysis in the report, stated that: "there is a robust economic case for proceeding with SMP" and that "the expected Net Present Value (NPV) of the national economic interest case for SMP is £216 million".
Details of SMP annual revenues are commercially confidential. The recently published audited 2004 Annual Accounts for BNFL noted that the most recent financial forecasts for SMP, which are used both for economic appraisal and accounting for SMP contracts, has shown some deterioration from last year. This reflects recent difficulties in achieving production ramp up and BNFL's current best estimate of the future production profile.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which countries were expected to place orders with the MOX Plant at Sellafield at its inception; and how many have done so to date. [187526]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe economic case for the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) presented to the Environment Agency in 1997 was based on MOX business from Japanese, German, Swiss and Swedish customers. To date, SMP has secured contracts from German, Swiss and Swedish customers plus commitments from Japanese customers. I understand from BNFL that the company is hopeful of securing Japanese MOX contracts in the future.
§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much profit the MOX plant at Sellafield is expected to make in its lifetime. [187527]
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§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThis is a commercially confidential figure under Exemption 13—Third Party Commercial Confidences of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information and the Government are working with BNFL to ensure that the best value for money is achieved for the taxpayer with respect to the operations of this plant.