Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what evidence his Department holds on the reliability of the performance of the advanced boiling water reactors being considered for the proposed new nuclear power station at Wylfa Newydd in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Nuclear power is a proven technology with modern reactors capable of reliably producing low-carbon electricity. Any new activity in the UK involving ionising radiation must first go through a process of regulatory Justification. This process requires that the overall societal benefits associated with the activity outweigh any potential health detriments. For any application involving a nuclear power station, the reliability of the proposed design and implications for energy security are carefully considered.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State in December 2014 decided that the UK ABWR – the technology proposed by Horizon Nuclear Power for deployment at Wylfa Newydd – was Justified for use in the UK. This decision followed a robust assessment of the application, and periods of consultation on both the application and proposed decision. The full decision is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-justification-of-practices-involving-ionising-radiation-regulations-2004, with Chapter 5 specifically addressing the topics of energy security and reliability. Further, in December 2017 the independent UK nuclear regulators granted design acceptance for the UK ABWR technology.