§ 19. Mr. Douglas-Mannasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he is satisfied with the priorities operated by his Department in the allocation of funds for future research, development and construction in electrical generation as between various fuels.
§ Mr. EadieNo clash of priorities exists. The bulk of funds provided at present by my Department for research, development, design and construction in electricity generation are for nuclear technology. We are also funding studies on the generation of electricity from a range of renewable sources, and have agreed in principle to contribute towards the cost of a proposed international project for the development of fluidised bed combustion of coal. The sums of money involved in these non-nuclear topics are relatively small and are not restricted by the level of expenditure in the nuclear field.