To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the capability of the (a) Health and Safety Executive and (b) Nuclear Installations Inspectorate to undertake the process of generic design assessment for new nuclear power stations. (167859)

Regulators, including the Health and Safety Executive and its Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, have developed resource plans to allow them to implement generic design assessment. Industry will, as now, meet the cost of licensing any nuclear plant.

Before generic design assessments began, we carried out a prioritisation process to ensure that the regulators could focus their resources on those designs that have the greatest chance of being built. If the nuclear consultation concludes that the private sector ought to be able to choose to invest in nuclear, it is likely that there will be a further prioritisation process to reduce the number of designs being assessed from four to three.

We continue to work closely with the regulators to ensure they have sufficient resource to carry out pre-licensing assessments within the 3 to 3.5 year timeframe.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether he expects the (a) Health and Safety Executive and (b) Nuclear Installations Inspectorate to hire external consultants to carry out the process of generic design assessment for new nuclear power stations. (167860)

The Health and Safety Executive and its Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, along with the other regulators, have developed resource plans to allow them to carry out the Generic Design Assessment work. The regulators will recover their costs from industry, as is currently the case for licensing of nuclear plants.

The regulators will use suitably qualified staff to carry out the assessments. How the regulators organise themselves internally, including whether to use external consultants, is a matter for them.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what progress has been made by the Environment Agency on the process of pre-authorisation for new nuclear power stations; and if he will make a statement. (167861)

The consultation document “The Future of Nuclear Power”, published on 23 May 2007 invited vendors of nuclear reactor designs who are interested in having their designs assessed through the Generic Design Assessment process to write to the regulators’ Joint Programme Office by 22 June 2007.

By this date, the regulators had received four applications for Generic Design Assessment.

Following assessment of the applications by the Government, all four were found to have met the criteria set down in the consultation document and as a result, the regulators (the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency) agreed to assess all four designs in the initial stage of the generic design assessment process. A press notice setting out the outcome of the Government’s assessment of applications was released on 5 July 2007. This, along with the letters of application sent by the vendors, and their letters of endorsement from operators, can be found on the BERR website.

Following this step, the Environment Agency, along with the other regulators, have begun work on the generic design assessment process on a contingent basis, pending the outcome of the nuclear consultation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the capability of the Environment Agency to undertake the process of pre-authorisation for new nuclear power stations. (167862)

The regulators, including the Environment Agency, have developed resource plans to allow them to implement generic design assessment. Industry will, as now, meet the cost of licensing any nuclear plant.

Before generic design assessments began, we carried out a prioritisation process to ensure that the regulators could focus their resources on those designs that have the greatest chance of being built. If the nuclear consultation concludes that the private sector ought to be able to choose to invest in nuclear, it is likely that there will be a further prioritisation process to reduce the number of designs being assessed from four to three.

We continue to work closely with the regulators to ensure they have sufficient resource to carry out pre-licensing assessments within the three to three and a half year timeframe.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether he expects the Environment Agency to hire external consultants to carry out the process of pre-authorisation for new nuclear power stations. (167863)

The Environment Agency, along with the other regulators, have developed resource plans to allow them to carry out the Generic Design Assessment work. The regulators will recover their costs from industry, as is currently the case for licensing of nuclear plants. The regulators will use suitably qualified staff to carry out the assessments. How the regulators organise themselves internally, including whether to use external consultants, is a matter for them.