§ Lord Jenkins of Putneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether their meeting of 80 per cent. of decommissioning costs of British Nuclear Fuels is indicative of the contribution made by civil nuclear developments towards military nuclear expenditure; 30WA and whether they will give examples of assistance with the environmental costs of other forms of energy.
The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Earl Ferrers)The Comptroller and Auditor General's report of June 1993 onThe Cost of Decommissioning Nuclear Facilities identified the decommissioning liabilities of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) as £5916 million at March 1992. Of that total, £1824 million (approximately 30 per cent.) was allocated to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA). The report also records that the balance of BNFL's liabilities are allocated to Nuclear Electric, Scottish Nuclear, BNFL's overseas customers and BNFL itself. The costs allocated to MoD and the UKAEA represent the liabilities arising from military and other government nuclear programmes, not assistance with the environmental costs of nuclear energy.