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Energy: Radioactive Waste Management

My Lords, I begin by thanking the Minister for repeating the Statement by his right honourable friend in another place. I add my thanks to his to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management for its work and the completion of its report, which is now clear. As it says, this problem has been around for more than 30 years. Interestingly enough, it is still the same problem today as it was30 years ago. The solution has been around throughout that period, and has not changed in those 30 years. There has been a culture of prevarication and obfuscation over that time, and I regret that there is no political honour for anybody in our discussing this matter today. The real question is: do the Government actually mean business? I note what is said at the end of the Statement about moving through the stages to implementation, but regrettably the possibility of further prevarication exists. I welcome the decision that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will take responsibility for disposal of nuclear waste, and that body’s proposed absorption of Nirex. I also welcome the continuation of CoRWM to provide independent advice. However, the Statement is not clear on what happens if the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and CoRWM disagree on the strategy. Is there a mechanism to resolve that disagreement, or would such disagreement impose further delay? I would be grateful if the Minister could explain the cryptic remark that occurs on the top of page 5, "““exploring the concept of voluntarism””." Is that, in effect, a bidding process for local authorities that have suitable geology to, shall we say, advance themselves as possible candidates when sites are considered? That prompts a further question: what happens, as seems perfectly possible, if nobody volunteers? How is that to be resolved, or will we come back to someone having to say, ““In this situation we will have to look and act without a volunteer””? I am not quite sure what, "““divorced from the…Nirex process””," means. Nirex considered all types of disposal and the whole of the country. I even remember a consultation, sometime in the late 1970s, about a possible disposal site in Essex. Since we know that its work must have been very thorough, is all that work to be disregarded? Are we really to do it all again? The final question that is not clear in this paper—inevitably so, I suspect—is the little matter of finance. Is sufficient funding already provided to enable the planning process to be fully undertaken, because it will still involve a great amount of detailed work that will incur expense? Some assurance on that would certainly help. Even more importantly, deep geological repositories, which are a major long-term development, will involve a long-term financial commitment. The horrible reality of 30 years of delay means that the cost of that work is now grossly inflated from the figure that it might have been had the job been undertaken 30 years ago. Will the Government therefore establish a fund now—not putting in all the money, but some funding? Will they start building a fund so that when we come to construction some of the money will be there? That would provide two assurances: first, that the Government are absolutely determined to get this through; and, secondly, that the planning work cannot possibly impose any additional delay. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response.