§ Mr. Ashtonasked the Minister of Power (1) how the reduced prices per kilowatt hour estimated to result from the construction of a second power station at Drax compare with the revised anticipated cost of the Dungeness B station;
(2) what is the latest estimated cost, inclusive of any element for research development and royalty, of Dungeness B nuclear station.
§ Mr. MasonThe C.E.G.B.'s latest estimate of the base load generating cost of the whole Drax station is 0.61d. per unit. The cost of the second half considered separately would be rather less than this. The Board advise me that there should not be any significant change at Dungeness B from the figure of 0.57d. per unit which was given to my hon. Friend the Member for Ince (Mr. McGuire) on 5th March, 1968.—[Vol. 760, c. 53.] This estimate included the royalty of 0014d. per unit payable to the Atomic Energy Authority on AGR stations.
In relation to decisions about fuelling of new stations, the relevant comparison is with the cost of a contemporary nuclear station rather than Dungeness B which was ordered in 1965 as the first commercial AGR station.