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Flood Defences

Volume 455: debated on Tuesday 9 January 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from which budget the building of maintenance of flood defences to protect nuclear power stations is met; what the cost of (a) building and (b) maintaining flood defences to protect nuclear power stations was in each year since 1990; how such costs are taken into account in assessment of the economic viability of nuclear power stations; and if he will make a statement. (109255)

The building and maintenance of flood defences is the responsibility of the nuclear power station operators British Energy and Magnox Electric. The operators cover their own costs for both flood defences and coastal protection activities when the need arises.

British Energy has incurred no costs in building flood defences at any of its eight nuclear station sites since 1990, as the need has not arisen. British Energy has maintained flood defences at the Sizewell and Dungeness sites as a planned and natural consequence of the decision to employ soft-shore flood defence strategies at the two sites.

Magnox Electric has spent £20,000 on a minor flood protection project at Berkeley and estimates that it spent approximately £60,000 per year on beach feeding at Dungeness between 1990-2000, and £460,000 in total since then.

It is for individual companies to consider how these costs, and future projected costs, affect the economic viability of their plant.