§ The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Patricia Hewitt)The Energy Bill currently before this House will enable radical changes to current arrangements for nuclear clean-up funded by the taxpayer. The Bill provides for the establishment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority—the NDA—to deal with the nuclear "legacy" represented by the 20 nuclear sites currently operated by BNFL and the UKAEA and which were developed in the 1940s, 50s and 60s to support Government nuclear research programmes. The aim of the NDA will be to ensure those sites are cleaned-up and decommissioned more safely, securely, and cost-effectively, and in an environmentally-friendly manner. The NDA is to be fully operational from 1 April 2005. The total cost of the programme is some £50 billion over the next century and initially some £2 billion a year. US experience has shown that effective programmes can save of the order of 20 per cent. The Government want to make savings of a similar magnitude through the introduction of competitive practices in the nuclear clean up industry and by better management of nuclear sites. The NDA's headquarters will be in West Cumbria.
In order to establish the NDA on schedule, my Department proposes to undertake necessary preparatory work. Treasury approval has been given to this. This work relates principally to recruiting—subject to Royal Assent—the NDA Board and other personnel, to activities relating to IT and finance systems, to property searches, and to a definitive salary and benefits survey. My Department considers that making this expenditure prior to Royal Assent will provide a net benefit to the taxpayer, through savings to the public purse to be achieved by the early establishment of the NDA.
Parliamentary approval for additional resources for this new service will be sought in a Supplementary Estimate for the DTI. Pending that approval urgent expenditure estimated at £500,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.