A total of 24 incidents and events have been formally reported to the Office for Nuclear Regulation since 1 January 2012. The majority of these related to minor procedural breaches and equipment faults and also included were a small number of incidents relating to the loss of site services such as steam, electrical power and uncontrolled lowering of a load. For each incident the ONR is satisfied that Sellafield Ltd took appropriate action without compromising nuclear safety on the site. None of these incidents required the attendance of the Sellafield site or external emergency services.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's latest estimate of the total lifetime cost of decommissioning the Sellafield site is £36.6 billion (discounted) as set out in its annual report and accounts for 2011-12.

The Government is considering carefully the detailed findings and recommendations of the National Audit Office (NAO) report into managing risk at Sellafield, published on 7 November 2012, and will respond fully to those in due course. In the meantime the Government welcomes the NAO's report, which recognises that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has a very difficult legacy of nuclear waste to manage at Sellafield.

The NDA and its contractor, Sellafield Ltd, are now making steady progress at Sellafield, delivering across a

range of challenging programmes. The NAO report recognises that while the performance of some of the major projects at Sellafield has been poor, performance on other activities on the site has improved. It also finds that the NDA is taking appropriate steps with Sellafield Ltd to improve performance on projects.

The Government has made cleaning up and decommissioning the nuclear legacy a priority and is tackling it with vigour, maintaining funding at some £3 billion a year, even at a time when it faces difficult spending decisions. This enables the NDA to continue to make progress on decommissioning, with the focus being on tackling the highest hazards at Sellafield. It is essential that we continue with this vital work and do not repeat the mistakes of the past, which was to do nothing.

There is approximately two tonnes of plutonium in safe and secure storage at Dounreay. In February 2012 an NDA credible options paper was published which set out how this and other nuclear material at Dounreay could best be managed. The NDA will publish a preferred options paper, which will set out the chosen way forward for this material, in the coming months.

The estimated costs of storing plutonium at Sellafield have not been disclosed as a single line item in the Sellafield Plan, published on 1 August 2011, as they relate in part to commercial contracts with third parties. The Sellafield Plan (a link to the electronic document is included below) contains a section entitled ‘Safe Storage of Pu’ which provides information on this topic. http://www.sellafieldsites. com/publications/sellafieldplan/Sellafield Plan.pdf

Following the announcement by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority that it was seeking alternative approaches to be considered alongside the preferred option of converting plutonium into mixed oxide fuel, GE Hitachi and others expressed an interest in submitting proposals in the future. Work is currently ongoing between GE Hitachi and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to help determine whether a sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor could be a credible option to deal with the UK plutonium stockpile. A copy of this proposal has already been published on the Business Link Public Procurement Portal (Contracts Finder) available at httpl/www.contractsfinder.businesslink. gov.uk/Common/View°%20Notice.aspx?site=1000& 1ang =en¬iceid=480416&fs=true.

A further copy of the proposal will be placed in the Libraries of the House.