Civil Nuclear Road Map
Lord Jones Excerpts(3 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Callanan (Con)
The noble Lord makes a number of good points. Clearly, there are some lessons to be learned from the process of Hinkley. We absolutely funded it in the right way, to go back to the point made by my noble friend Lord Howell, because the cost is being borne by EDF—and it is very kind of the French taxpayer to help us out in our nuclear programme. That is one of the reasons why we needed to look at alternative funding mechanisms for the Sizewell project. Of course, there are always lessons that can be learned in the regulatory process, the planning process and so on to try to bring these projects onstream a little sooner.
Lord Jones (Lab)
My Lords, the Minister will know of the great contribution made to the generation of nuclear power by the plants of Trawsfynydd, in the magnificent landscape of old Meirionnydd, and Wylfa on Ynys Môn, Môn Mam Cymru, or Anglesey. Can he give any encouragement today to people who wish to see further generation at the Trawsfynydd plant and the renewal of energy production at Wylfa? Does he know that those plants are far-flung in the north-west of Wales, where well-paid and skilled work is very rare? Can he give any encouragement at this stage?
Lord Callanan (Con)
I welcome the noble Lord’s comments. We recognise the substantial contributions that many communities in Wales have made over the years towards our nuclear policy in the UK and all the energy that we have received. Part of the consultation is a check on the siting of new nuclear plants, and community support, the existence of existing grid connections and so on will play important roles in future siting policies. The plants that he mentions score very well in that regard.
Decarbonisation
Lord Jones Excerpts(9 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Lord Callanan (Con)
My noble friend has been steadfast for many years in his support for free trade—a cause that I manifestly agree with. But it is a complicated issue. It looks as though the EU and US are going down the road of carbon adjustment mechanism taxes, but, as I said in my Answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, it is a complicated issue. For instance, do we want to incentivise the installation of poorer-quality solar panels that may be constructed with lower carbon intensity, or better-quality solar panels? That is one example of millions that I could give.
Lord Jones (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister acknowledge that, while we need green policies, there is a major problem concerning the British steel industry? Successive Governments have imposed what have been, in effect, green taxes on a great foundation industry. Now, very little of the steel industry remains. For example, does he realise that the great integrated steelworks—the only remaining integrated steelworks in Britain—is hanging on by its fingertips? The ailing steel company Tata calls for more investment. How can he see his Government urgently giving more investment to save Britain’s steel industry? If Britain is to remain a great nation, as she must, she needs the foundation industry of steel. If ever there shall be war, you need steel.
Lord Callanan (Con)
I totally understand the point that the noble Lord is making. He highlights the dilemma of carbon-reduction policies in these areas, where we impose carbon taxes and emissions trading systems and schemes, and of course that has an effect on domestic industries that emit a lot of carbon—the so-called carbon leakage problem. We are working closely with the steel industry to try to help it adjust to greener manufacturing methods, and of course it receives free emissions permits.