§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what commitments he has been given by the management of BNFL regarding the reorganisation of management structure and methods at the company. [117616]
§ Mrs. LiddellI have asked the Chairman of BNFL to carry out a "root and branch" review of the company. I expect to receive his proposals shortly.
§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the deadlines for implementing the recommendations and requirements of the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate reports published in February480W regarding BNFL, will be met; and if he will list the (a) expected and (b) achieved completion date for each such requirement. [117618]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published three reports on 18 February. The report of the "team inspection of the control and supervision of operations at BNFL's Sellafield site" requires BNFL to produce a programme within two months to address HSE's recommendations. Their report "into the falsification of pellet diameter data in the MOX demonstration facility (MDF) at the BNFL Sellafield site and the effect of this on the safety of MOX fuel in use" says that the MDF will remain closed until BNFL have met all 15 of HSE's recommendations. The third report, which deals with the storage of liquid high level waste at Sellafield, requires BNFL to produce within six months a strategy to reduce stocks of such waste to a buffer volume by around 2015. Copies of all three reports were placed in the Library of the House on 18 February.
I expect BNFL to respond positively, constructively and on time to all the recommendations in the HSE reports. However, it is for the company, in discussion with HSE, to produce detailed implementation plans.