My Lords, I apologise that I was unable to play much of a role in Committee on this important Bill because of a clash with other work here. When one is in a party of one, or one and a quarter at best, it is difficult to spread oneself around. I have a considerable interest in the question of nuclear energy and I am not in the mainstream of my party’s opinion. My party has tended to be anti-nuclear on the basis of fearing consequences if accidents of the sort we have seen in Japan and elsewhere were to happen. I did a degree in physics at Manchester University which contained a large element of nuclear physics; I worked for a time building the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station; and the Wylfa nuclear power station is also within the old county of Gwynedd, my home area. Therefore, I was most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, for introducing the amendment in a
broad context, bringing in the environment, because the environmental consequence of nuclear decisions is central to the public perception.
We are expecting the go-ahead, in Anglesey, for the Wylfa B station, something that I am very much in support of, as is a majority of opinion within the county of Anglesey. There are, however, many people who have worries about safety. As the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, mentioned, those worries have to be taken on board and have to be central to the thinking of the structures we are dealing with here. I listened to the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, a moment ago, saying that there is sometimes the danger of going for the extra step of safety at a disproportionate cost. Obviously, there is a risk that has to be taken at some point, but the communities are only happy to support the nuclear industry when they think that that risk is very small indeed, that all steps can be taken to minimise those risks and that structures are being put in place to do that.
In the context of this part of the Bill and this amendment, one aspect of the environmental impact that arises from nuclear energy is the environmental impact associated with decommissioning. The Minister may recall that I raised this question at Question Time not so long ago: it is a matter of some concern. The new generation of nuclear power stations have easier and faster decommissioning built into them—one is very much aware of that. It is not the same decommissioning process as was necessary for the previous generations. One thinks of the Trawsfynydd nuclear power station which stopped generating electricity 20 years ago and is still being decommissioned, with 700 people still working on site on the decommissioning and another three years at least of work for those 700. That is an enormous cost. One accepts that, with luck, the costs of decommissioning will be less when the technological needs of decommissioning have been more appropriately designed into the original design of the nuclear power station, but there are always uncertainties.
The question that I put to the Minister on the back of the amendment, which deals with the environment—and it is an environmental consequence—is what if those who are involved in the construction and running of nuclear power stations and who are charged with the internalising of the costs of decommissioning into the overall cost package were to go bankrupt? What if that company goes to the wall? What happens to the steps needed to ensure safe decommissioning with regard to the impact on the environment if it is not properly handled?
I understand that at the point of negotiating contracts with companies such as Hitachi and the others, the Government clearly want to make sure that the companies that may make profit out of this pay the costs that are consequential on the work they are undertaking. Of course, it is right that this should be so, but there still needs to be some guarantee, at the end of the road, that the communities that are hosting this new generation of nuclear power stations cannot, under any circumstances, be left with a nuclear hulk the cost of decommissioning of which nobody is willing to take on. I believe that assurances along these lines are needed in order to make it easier for those, such as myself, who are in
favour of nuclear power, to be able to argue the case. It is a worry and I have not heard how it will be addressed in those unfortunate, unlikely but still possible circumstances that could arise at some date in the future.