§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his answer of 17 May to the hon. Member for Cornwall, South-East (Mr. Hicks),Official Report, column 229, what new nuclear safety practices have been introduced; what improvements need to be made to the Devonport facilities; how much these changes will cost and when they will be completed; how many nuclear-powered submarines will be refitted at Rosyth; when a final decision will be announced; and if he will make a statement. [25694]
§ Mr. FreemanIt is Government policy that naval nuclear reactors are operated with at least as high a regard for safety standards as any other nuclear facility in the UK. Civil practice now requires a wide variety of both manmade and naturally occurring environmental hazards to be considered in the safety assessment of nuclear plant including earthquakes, extremes of wind and temperature396W on the environmental side, and aircraft crash, blast and dropped loads on the manmade side. In line with the developments in civil practice, additional assessment techniques have been used in this process including probabilistic risk and statistical analysis techniques.
We are at present assessing the extent of the improvements required to existing nuclear docking facilities at Devonport. Until the assessment is complete, it would be premature to speculate on cost or time scale. We expect that the assessment will complete during this summer. Decisions will be announced shortly thereafter.
Regarding docking facilities for nuclear-powered submarines, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to hon. Member for Cornwall, South-East on 17 May, Official Report, column 229.