§ Mr. Cookasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will publish in the Official Report the annual load factor of the Dounreay PFR for the most recent 10 years.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[pursuant to his reply, of 23 January 1981, c. 254]: The electrical load factor figures which I gave for PFR were percentages of the design output to be expected from the reactor circuits that were in use bearing in mind the experimental programme on the reactor and steam generators, planned shutdowns and statutory tests.
As a development reactor PFR is not comparable with commercial stations. The commercial literature nevertheless publishes figures for PFR as if it were a commercial station and based on original design capability and figures since 1975 on this basis are as follows:
Electrical Load Factor per cent.—that is actual electrical output as a percentage of design output Year Percentage Run up period only 1975 1976 5.2 1977 10.2 1978 12.2 1979 9.0 1980 3.9