§ Mr. Masonasked the Parliamentary Secretary for Science what reassessment has now been made of the working life of a magnox nuclear power station.
§ Mr. Denzil FreethIt is now more than five and a half years since the first nuclear power station at Calder Hall came into operation. Comprehensive inspection during that period has shown no evidence to suggest that the life of magnox stations will be limited to twenty years, the period chosen, with deliberate caution, for amortising the capital cost of the civil stations. There can as yet be no final proof of the life of a reactor. An assumption of 30 years could be as realistic as 20 years, particularly for the later stations in the programme.