To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what criteria he plans to use to calculate the full share of costs incurred to manage radioactive waste arising from prospective new build reactors in order to recover these costs from the operators. (94227)

The final report of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management was published on 31 July 2006. The Government and Devolved Administrations will respond in a formal statement to Parliament, setting out how work to manage long-term waste will be taken forward. The long-term waste management solution developed by Government will factor in waste from new build including an assessment of how new build waste would affect the cost of delivering the national waste management solution.

The Energy Review Report 'The Energy Challenge', presented to Parliament on 11 July 2006, established that private developers of new nuclear power stations will meet their full share of long-term waste management costs. The Government intend to appoint an individual with senior management or financial experience of major capital investment projects to lead the development of arrangements for the costs associated with new build waste management.