Written question asked by Paul Flynn (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 January 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 January 2012. It was answered by Charles Hendry (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the likely effect of the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency's proposals for accelerating the geological disposal programme on the unit costs for disposal of (a) legacy advanced gas-cooled reactor and (b) new build pressurised water reactor spent fuel.

Answer: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has conducted an initial review of potential options for accelerating the geological disposal facility programme and delivered its report on 22 December 2011. The NDA's report, which is available on the NDA's website, sets out several scenarios and a high level analysis in terms of potential benefits, challenges and risks to the programme. The NDA's report represents initial findings and indicates where further work is needed to determine the viability of options for accelerating key dates within the current indicative timetable. As a first step I have asked the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) to provide advice on the NDA's initial work and my Department will have the work externally peer reviewed in parallel to this. Only when this and the NDA's further work is concluded will the Government be in a position to consider making any firm proposals for acceleration of the programme.

Secondary information