§ Mr. McGuireasked the Minister of Power, in view of the fact that none of the advance gas-cooled reactor stations that will come into operation within the next 10 years will be competitive with coal-fired stations, to what extent he estimates that nuclear power will be the cheapest source of energy in 10 years' time; and upon what evidence he bases this estimate.
§ Mr. MarshAs I said in reply to my hon. Friend's Supplementary Question on 9th May, it is not true that present estimates show that nuclear powered generation will be more expensive than coal. The C.E.G.B.'s estimate of the generation cost of even the first A.G.R. station, Dungeness B, of which the first set is due to be commissioned in 1970, is 0.525d. per kilowatt hour, including royalty payable to the A.E.A. This shows a clear cost advantage over the estimated generation cost of contemporary coal-fired stations. Costs are expected to fall for each of the later A.G.R. stations.—[Vol. 746, c. 1263–4.]