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BNFL
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what financial losses have been made by BNFL plc in each of the last two years; and how have these losses been financed. [19252]
Mr. Wilson: BNFL Group's independently audited annual report and accounts stated that BNFL made a loss for the financial year after exceptional items of £46 million in the year to 31 March 2001 and £262 million in the year to 31 March 2000.
The annual report and accounts also included an equivalent amount transferred from accumulated reserves in each year to cover the losses.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 20 November 2001, Official Report, column 163W, on BNFL, where BNFL Inc.'s accounts are published in the United States; and if she will make a statement. [19409]
Mr. Wilson: BNFL's Inc.'s accounts are not published in the US. BNFL Inc. is part of BNFL plc's Nuclear Clean UP and Decommissioning Business Group for which segmental information is published in BNFL's annual report and accounts.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consultants have been retained by her Department to advise on the review of BNFL's nuclear liabilities. [19258]
Mr. Wilson: Work carried out by the Department on the future of BNFL included reviewing the management of BNFL's liabilities. The work was done with the assistance of the following advisers:
- Credit Suisse First Boston (financial advice);
HSBC (financial advice);
Slaughter and May (legal advice);
Arthur Andersen (strategy and accounting advice (jointly to DTI and BNFL));
Deloitte and Touche (accounting advice);
Lane, Clark and Peacock (actuarial advice); and
Mercers (strategy advice).
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the total remuneration, including bonuses, paid in the last financial year to (a) Paul Miskimin, President of BNFL Inc. and (b) Charles Pryor, President and Chief Executive Officer of Westinghouse Electric. [19257]
Mr. Wilson: This information is a matter between the companies and those individuals. Details of their remuneration are not a matter of public record.
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Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 20 November 2001, Official Report, column 163W, on BNFL, by how much the final cost of constructing the Sellafield MOX plant differs from the carrying value in the latest BNFL published account. [19329]
Mr. Wilson: Information relating to the construction costs of the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) was included in the report produced by the independent consultants A. D. Little assessing BNFL's business case for operation of the plant. This was published in July 2001 with certain commercially sensitive information excised.
As can be seen from figure 21 of the report, A. D. Little noted that PA Consulting's earlier 1997 report on the economic case for SMP considered that the construction costs were at least £300 million. A. D. Little assessed that at the time of their own 2001 report, commissioning having continued since the PA Consulting report, sunk costs in respect of SMP were around £470 million. BNFL's annual accounts for the financial year ending 31 March 2001 give a carrying value for SMP of £473 million.
Please note that my answer of 20 November contained an error. It gave the carrying value of SMP in BNFL's latest annual accounts as £462 million. This value was in fact taken by mistake from BNFL's accounts for the previous financial year ending 31 March 2000.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what annual operational cost savings have been achieved in (a) electricity generation and (b) reprocessing as a result of the integration of BNFL and Magnox Electric. [19254]
Mr. Wilson: The merger of BNFL and Magnox has brought integrated management of the Magnox fuel cycle as well as a sensible relationship between the component parts of the business. There is also now a clear strategy on Magnox power station lifetimes. Detailed information about operational costs is a commercial matter for BNFL. However, information about the commercial performance of BNFL's Magnox Generation Business is provided in BNFL's annual report and accounts.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her assessment is of the total amount of money BNFL Inc. has lost in (a) the Hanford River Protection project, (b) the East Tennessee Technology Park, (c) BNFL Savannah River Corporation, (d) Rocky Mountain Remediation Services and (e) the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment project in Idaho Falls. [19256]
Mr. Wilson: Details of the financial performance of individual contracts are commercially confidential. Information on the losses incurred on the East Tennessee Technology Park contract was disclosed on page 51 of the BNFL Annual Report and Accounts 2000 because, in the company's view, that was an exceptional item as described in the Companies Act 1985.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether her Department has carried out an independent assessment to determine the future commercial viability of BNFL Inc. [19255]
Mr. Wilson: The Department has received independent advice on many aspects of BNFL's business, including BNFL Inc., as part of the work undertaken by the
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Department. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced on 28 November 2001, Official Report, columns 990–96, the conclusions to this work.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 20 November 2001, Official Report, column 163W, on BNFL, if she will list the reasons for the commercial sensitivity and whether throughput capacities of BNFL's other production plants are publicly available. [19331]
Mr. Wilson: Information about throughput capacity of BNFL plants is generally considered to be commercially sensitive. The A. D. Little report on BNFL's economic case for operation of the Sellafield MOX Plant was published in July 2001. As was stated in the decision document published by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, the only information withheld from the published report was
"that judged to be commercially sensitive for BNFL, the publication of which would prejudice BNFL's commercial opportunities with respect to the manufacture of MOX fuel."
Liabilities Management Authority
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will appoint the head of the Liabilities Management Authority. [20974]
Mr. Wilson: The Liabilities Management Authority will be established by a Bill which will be brought forward in due course. The LMA's head will be appointed in accordance with the Code and Guidance issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments following the LMA's establishment.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will publish the terms of reference for the Liabilities Management Authority. [20454]
Mr. Wilson: The Liabilities Management Authority will be responsible for Government's interest in the discharge of public sector civil nuclear liabilities. It will provide the driving force and incentives to get on with the job of systematically and progressively reducing the hazard posed by legacy facilities and wastes. It will have a specific remit to develop an overall UK strategy for decommissioning and clean-up.
A Bill to establish the LMA will be brought forward in due course. More detailed proposals for the operation of the LMA will be set out in a White Paper to be published in the Spring.
Nuclear Liabilities Review
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the terms of reference are for the review of
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nuclear liabilities being undertaken by her Department; and which other Government Departments are involved in the review. [19259]
Mr. Wilson: The management of public sector civil nuclear liabilities was considered as part of the quinquennial review of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
The terms of reference for the review were announced on 19 April 2000 by the then Minister for Energy on 19 April 2000, Official Report, column 548W. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry made a statement to the House on 28 November 2001 Official Report, columns 990-96, about the future management of public sector civil nuclear liabilities which reflected the outcome of this work.
Copies of the QQR report have been placed in the Libraries of the House. The report identifies the wide range of Government Departments and other stakeholders which were consulted in the course of carrying out the review.
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