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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect on the costs of decommissioning and (b) future use of land of the proposals made by David Peattie, chief executive of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to halt decommissioning of nuclear plants once concrete remains of old nuclear plants have been declared safe.

We consulted on proposals to amend the regulatory framework that applies in the final stages of nuclear decommissioning and clean-up, when the focus is on land remediation, rather than nuclear safety. These proposals would result in environmental improvements and significant savings for the tax payer – estimated as £400 million (net present value) over 17 years and over £2 billion over the next 100 years, as the Sellafield site is cleaned up. Following the consultation on these proposals, it is the Government’s intention to introduce legislation when Parliamentary time allows.

In terms of future use of land proposals for sites of decommissioned power stations, the level of clean-up of a site to facilitate any future use is dependent on both the nature of the on-surface and subsurface structures. Under the proposals, the land will be available for re-use earlier, although it will remain under regulation by the relevant environment agency until it can be released for unrestricted use, which could take many decades.