§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the UKAEA has yet responded to the HSE/SEPA report on the management of safety at Dounreay; and if he will make a statement. [62010]
§ Mr. DewarSafety at Dounreay remains paramount and I am keeping closely in touch with developments there. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority has today published an action plan in response to the audit of the management of safety at Dounreay carried out earlier this year by the Health and Safety Executive and Scottish Environment Protection Agency. I have arranged for the action plan to be placed in the House of Commons Library.
Management and staff at Dounreay have worked very hard to produce this response to the many recommendations contained in the audit report. They have shown that they are taking the audit very seriously indeed. There are a number of points of detail which need to be discussed further, and there are issues of timing which need to be refined. Nonetheless this is an encouraging first step on what will be a long journey to bring the plant up to the standards expected of a modern nuclear licensee.
60WI expect UKAEA management to press ahead with implementation of the action plan as soon as it has been agreed by the plant's regulators. This will build on the actions already underway.