Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of the Sellafield workforce reform initiative.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
A new model, part of a suite of changes designed to increase efficiency in the business, is being put in place at Sellafield to deliver savings. There is no additional cost to the public purse from implementing this model change.
Details of the change programme are available at http://www.nda.gov.uk/contracts-and-competition/sellafield-model-change-programme/.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will meet Sellafield workforce representatives to discuss how better to achieve (a) safer, (b) quicker and (c) more efficient decommissioning of the Sellafield site.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
DECC Ministers engage regularly with a range of stakeholders, including in relation to the safe, secure and cost-effective decommissioning of the nuclear decommissioning estate.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of how the Sellafield workforce reform initiative will ensure (a) safer, (b) quicker and (c) more efficient delivery of decommissioning at Sellafield.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has a responsibility to UK tax payers to ensure that Sellafield Ltd has maximum opportunity for improved performance: accelerating hazard reduction and delivering value for money. A new model, part of a suite of changes designed to increase efficiency in the business, is being put in place to help achieve that. The rationale for this model is set out in the Sellafield Model Change (SMC) Outline Business Case.
Details of the change programme are available at http://www.nda.gov.uk/contracts-and-competition/sellafield-model-change-programme/.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential savings to the public purse arising from the Sellafield workforce reform initiative.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has a responsibility to UK tax payers to ensure that Sellafield Ltd has maximum opportunity for improved performance: accelerating hazard reduction and delivering value for money. A new model, part of a suite of changes designed to increase efficiency in the business, is being put in place to help achieve that. The rationale for this model is set out in the Sellafield Model Change (SMC) Outline Business Case.
Details of the change programme are available at http://www.nda.gov.uk/contracts-and-competition/sellafield-model-change-programme/.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who was involved in designing the Sellafield Workforce Reform initiative.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has a responsibility to UK tax payers to ensure that Sellafield Ltd has maximum opportunity for improved performance: accelerating hazard reduction and delivering value for money. A new model, part of a suite of changes designed to increase efficiency in the business, is being put in place to help achieve that. The Sellafield Change Programme is driven by Sellafield Ltd and is managed by its CEO and Executive. From April this year, Sellafield Ltd will report to the NDA Board on progress.
Full details of the change programme are available at http://www.nda.gov.uk/contracts-and-competition/sellafield-model-change-programme/
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many jobs are expected to be created in (a) the supply chain and (b) other areas as an indirect result of (i) new nuclear builds in Moorside and (ii) Solway Firth Tidal Lagoon project, West Cumbria.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Nugen is proposing to build three AP1000 reactors at Moorside in Cumbria. Nugen have indicated that Moorside would bring at least £10 billion of investment into the UK with estimated peak on-site employment of up to 6,000 during construction. During operation the reactors could sustain about 1,000 permanent jobs, with many more created through local and regional supply chains including in construction, manufacturing and engineering, although estimated numbers are not yet available.
Regarding the Solway Firth Tidal Lagoon, the proposed project is in the early stages of development. It is too early to say how many jobs could be created.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the number of jobs that will be created by the construction phase of (a) the new nuclear build at Moorside and (b) Solway Firth Tidal Lagoon project in West Cumbria.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Nugen is proposing to build three AP1000 reactors at Moorside in Cumbria. Nugen have indicated that Moorside would bring at least £10 billion of investment into the UK with estimated peak on-site employment of up to 6,000 during construction.
Regarding the Solway Firth Tidal Lagoon, the proposed project is in the early stages of development. It is too early to say how many jobs could be created.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the number of jobs that will be created by the running and maintaining of (a) new nuclear build at Moorside and (b) Solway Firth Tidal Lagoon project in West Cumbria.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Nugen is proposing to build three AP1000 reactors at Moorside in Cumbria. Nugen have indicated that Moorside would bring at least £10 billion of investment into the UK with estimated peak on-site employment of up to 6,000 during construction.
Regarding the Solway Firth Tidal Lagoon, the proposed project is in the early stages of development. It is too early to say how many jobs could be created.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans the Government has to support research and development in the use of thorium reactor technology in (a) the UK, (b) the EU and (c) worldwide.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The UK has been supporting research and development into the use of thorium nuclear fuels since such fuels were used in the Dragon reactor at Winfrith in the 1960s and 1970s.
Examples of current activity on thorium and related technologies include academic research into thorium fuelled reactor systems and fuel cycle processes through Research Council grants to UK universities; collaboration on thorium fuels, via the UK Research Councils’ Energy Programme, with national nuclear energy programmes of other countries on safety, performance and non-proliferation; experimental development of thorium fuels through the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and private sector organisations, as part of international consortia, and thorium fuel modelling and fuel cycle scenario analysis by the NNL. These activities cover UK, EU and worldwide initiatives and receive either financial or strategic support from the Government. The Government plans to continue a similar approach to support future research and development in the use of thorium as a nuclear reactor fuel.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many meetings her Department has had with representatives of Tidal Power Ltd on the proposed Solway Firth Tidal Lagoon project.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government is currently in a bilateral negotiation with Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd regarding a possible Contract for Difference for their proposed project in Swansea Bay and there have been numerous meetings with the developer to discuss this project.