Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 September 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 October 2004. It was answered by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Monday, 4 October 2004 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what contingency plans she has put in place in the event of there being insufficient engineering staff to run the remaining Magnox reactor sites.

Answer: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what contingency plans she has put in place in the event of there being insufficient engineering staff to run the remaining Magnox reactor sites. [188423] Mr. Mike O'Brien: Reactor sites personnel will work closely with the regulators to ensure that sufficient engineering staff are available. Operators of Magnox reactor sites, as with other nuclear licensed sites are required to comply with the Conditions attached to their licence by HSE. These Conditions require that, before a licensee makes an organisational change, including changes to engineering support staff, it must consider the safety implications. HSE can, if necessary, prevent the change from taking place until satisfied that the safety implications are understood and that there will be no lowering of safety standards. Similar considerations apply regarding compliance with the limits and conditions of the authorisation issued to the site licensee by the Environment Agency under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993.

Secondary information