Nuclear decommissioning costs are the subject of current work within the Department. When this work is complete, I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.
Substantive answer from Bob Ainsworth to Alex Salmond:
I undertook to write to you in my answer of 7 January 2008 (Official Report, column 53W) to respond to your Question, regarding the cost of the decommissioning of Vanguard Class submarines.
As you may be aware from the answers to previous questions, it is not possible to provide costs broken down by class; the furthest they can be broken down at present is to the total decommissioning cost for in-service submarines only.
Nuclear decommissioning provisions are the estimated costs of future liabilities. These are principally related to future facility decommissioning and the treatment and storage of nuclear waste arising from operations at MOD sites, operations of Royal Navy submarines, and the Departmental share of planning and constructing a national repository for the eventual disposal of that waste.
We have recently undertaken a review of the nuclear provisions. Our estimated current liability for in-service submarines only (i.e. excluding facility decommissioning, and the decommissioning of out of service submarines and submarines not yet in service) is £455 million. This is an ‘undiscounted’ figure, meaning that it includes an estimate of potential inflation; the equivalent discounted figure is £240 million.
I hope that this is helpful.