HC Deb 04 March 1977 vol 927 cc339-40W
Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether any British nationalised industry authority or subsidiaries for which he is sponsoring Minister have a financial interest in the development of the fast reactor programme of any other country; if so, which country or countries are involved; and what is the nature of the interest.

Mr. Benn

The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) acquired in 1973 a 1.65 per cent. shareholding in the joint German / Dutch/Belgian fast reactor power station company, Schnellbrüter Kernkraftwerksgesellschaft (SBK), registered in West Germany, which had been set up to construct and operate a prototype 300 MW(E) fast reactor power station, SNR 300, and to hold interests in other companies having a similar purpose. The CEGB thereby gained the right to assign personnel to the SNR 300 project, but its contractual financial obliga- tion is limited to funding the 1.65 per cent. share of SBK's holdings–16 per cent. and 51 per cent. respectively—in two other companies, NERSA and ESK.

NERSA (Centrale Nucléaire Européenne à Neutrons Rapides S.A.) is the French / Italian /SBK company, registered in France, which will build a 1200 MW(E) commercial demonstration fast reactor power station, Super-Phénix, in France, ESK (Europäische Schnellbruter Kernkraft-Werksgesellschaft) is the SBK/Italian /French company, registered in West Germany, which has as its long-term objective the building of a comparable commercial demonstration power station, SNR 2, in Germany, following completion of SNR 3000.

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority has numerous co-operation arrangements with other countries in the field of fast reactor development but only one of these involves cash payments. These are towards the cost of a major safety project in France.

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