§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what reports, including from the European Commission, he has on nuclear fusion power and its potentially serious environmental problems; if he will summarise the problems referred to; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BaldryMy Department has lately seen the Fusion Programme Evaluation Board report prepared for the Commission of the European Communities and published in July 1990 and the report of the Senior Committee on Environmental, Safety and Economic Aspects of Magnetic Fusion Energy, published in the USA in September 1989. These reports concur in finding that fusion potentially has significant safety and environmental advantages over alternative methods of large-scale electricity generation, but that the realisation of this potential in a practical system requires solutions to a number of challenging problems. These problems concern the development of materials, the use of tritium, and the maintainability of the reactor.