APPENDIX 39
First supplementary memorandum by the
Nuclear Industry Association
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to present
oral evidence to the Committee. During the session the Committee
asked us for some supplementary evidence which I am now enclosing.
As we said, when we appeared in front of you,
the nuclear industry is not looking for any government subsidies
or guaranteed minimum prices. We are confident that new nuclear
stations can be competitive with any form of electricity generation
and that the private sector can finance and build them.
In order to facilitate this the Government does
need to set out a clear energy policy which indicates its support
for new nuclear build in order to give the financial markets confidence
in government intentions. It also needs to unequivocally commit
to ensuring that there is a long term cost in the market for carbon
emissions as this is the most efficient way to make serious inroads
into our carbon emissions. This could be done in a variety of
ways, for example through emissions trading such as the current
EU scheme (although this scheme needs to set out its carbon cap
levels over a much longer period in order to achieve its objectives)
or through carbon taxation or a combination of the two. A long
term market for carbon would allow companies to make rational
investment decisions and would further incentivise development
of renewables, carbon capture and sequestration as well as nuclear.
We would also like to see reform of the planning
and licensing system. One of the main reasons why planning enquiries
into major infrastructure project often take many years is that
they repeatedly examine national policy issues within the local
enquiry. This process is inefficient and causes costs and delays
while adding nothing to public scrutiny. In our view national
energy policy should be debated at a national level rather than
in the context of a local enquiry. Similarly the licensing of
generic reactor types should be undertaken at a national level
by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and consultation on
this should be undertaken at a national level. The local enquiry
would then be left to deal with genuinely local issues such as
siting, appearance and the layout and safety of reactor systems
that vary according to local conditions (sea water cooling systems
for instance). Such a reform of the planning process would be
of benefit to all infrastructure projects rather than just being
nuclear specific.
We have enclosed copies of our studies into
the UK supply chain's capability to construct reactor systems
in the UK which show that UK industry can construct up to 70%
of a new pressurised water reactor now rising to 80% with investment.
[112]Also
enclosed is a list of the range of university based courses for
training the future workforce for the industry[113]
as there was some interest in knowing what was being done to maintain
our skills base.
Chief Executive
Nuclear Industry Association
9 June 2006
112 Not printed. Back
113
Appendix 40. Back
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