§ Mr. McGuireasked the Minister of Power (1) whether, in reviewing the Fuel Policy White Paper, he will arrange to republish the information contained in table F on page 78, on the basis of the ground rules described in paragraph 5, and state whether the figures thus arrived at represent the Government's latest estimates of comparative generating costs.
(2) why, in the Fuel Policy White Paper, the figures for generating costs of nuclear and conventional power stations given in table F on page 78 were not shown on the basis of the more precedent ground rules set out in paragraph 5 of the White Paper.
§ Mr. MarshThe figures of generating cost per unit in Table F of Appendix III were given solely for the purpose of comparison with those in the 1965 White Paper on Fuel Policy (Cmnd. 2798). While this method is useful for comparing stations of a similar type, for the reasons given in paragraph 4 of the Appendix it can be misleading for comparing nuclear with conventional power stations. A better method of comparison is that given in Table G for which the more severe ground rules were used.
Estimates of base-load generating costs on the basis of pence per kWh at the coal-fired and nuclear power stations listed in Table F have been given in answer to Questions on 21st December 1967 and 17th January, 1968. These are the 51W C.E.G.B's latest estimates for the stations specified and reflect the more prudent ground rules mentioned in paragraph 5 except that the cost assumed for the initial charge of uranium fuel is the best available estimate for each station.