Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of the (a) Office for Nuclear Regulation report, Accidental Aircraft Crash Hazard Assessment, published in May 2015 and (b) Loughborough University report, A Review and Statistical Modelling of Accidental Aircraft Crashes within Great Britain, published in September 2014.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) established a Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) in 2012, to provide independent, objective, authoritative, professional scientific advice to the ONR’s Chief Nuclear Inspector, and to explore potential improvements to existing methodologies for calculating accidental aircraft crash frequency.

In order to support its deliberations, the TAP commissioned research on some aspects of the data and methods used in calculating accidental aircraft crash risk. The Health and Safety Laboratory and Loughborough University conducted research and reported to the Panel.

The Technical Advisory Panel made four recommendations, addressed to the Chief Nuclear Inspector. The Chief Nuclear Inspector has fully endorsed the conclusions of the Panel and committed to implementing the report’s recommendations. The Technical Advisory Panel’s Final Report, including the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s forward setting out his response, can be found at:

http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/2015/tap-report.pdf.