To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the likely security of future generation of nuclear power stations against accident or deliberate attack. (195743)

As part of the consultation on the Future of Nuclear Power, the Government carefully considered the security and safety of new nuclear power stations. Having reviewed the arguments and evidence put forward and based on the advice on independent regulators, and the advances in the designs of power stations that might be proposed by energy companies, the Government set out in their White Paper that they continues to believe that nuclear power stations pose very small risks to safety and security.

We also believe that the UK has an effective regulatory framework that ensures these risks are minimised and sensibly managed by industry. The White Paper said that we will work with the independent regulators to explore ways of further enhancing the transparency and efficiency of the regulatory regime, without diminishing its effectiveness in dealing with the challenges of new build.