§ Dr. John Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he has yet received a report from British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. on the implementation of the Windscale safety review conducted by the Health and Safety Executive.
§ Mr. John MooreYes. In his statement to the House on 9 April 1981—c. 307–309—my hon. Friend announced the publication of the Health and Safety Executive's report on the management of safety at Windscale. He referred in that statement to the HSE's proposal that British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. should provide a full report after a further six months on progress towards implementation of recommendations made in the HSE's report. the BNFL report has been published today and at the same time the HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has published a commentary on it. I have arranged for copies of both these documents to be placed in the Library of the House.
The BNFL report notes that the company had anticipated or completed many of the review team's recommendations by the time they were published. Of the remainder, those which could by now have been implemented have been put into effect to the satisfaction of the NII. Monitoring of progress towards implementing these was carried out during the regular programme of visits by NII staff to the Windscale—now Sellafield—site. A number of meetings between BNFL and NII staff were held at Windscale to discuss aspects of those recommendations, for instance on a system of safety audit, which will take longer to implement. The NII's 360W commentary notes those recommendations which have still to be fully implemented and the action which BNFL has taken on them.
I note that in conclusion the NII states that it is satisfied that substantial progress has been made in the implementation of the recommendations in the HSE report and that, in the longer term, the remaining objectives will be achieved.
In view of the importance that the Government attach to nuclear safety, I recently visited Sellafield and discussed the Windscale safety review with the managing director and the director of reprocessing. I also met representatives of the trades unions. I was impressed by what I saw of the safety standards applied in the plant, and the emphasis on safety observed by both the management and the company's staff. I have full confidence in the ability of BNFL's management to continue to operate the plant safely in the interests of both the work force and the local population, and I welcome the conclusion drawn by the NII about the progress made in the implementation of the Windscale safety review.