To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost was of the Strategic Siting Assessment Programme; and what proportion of that cost has been recovered from applicant companies. (288595)

The Government set out in the 2008 Nuclear White Paper that it would conduct a Strategic Siting Assessment (“SSA”) to identify sites which are potentially suitable for the deployment of new nuclear power stations by the end of 2025. The sites identified through this process will be listed in the proposed National Policy Statement for Nuclear Power.

The Government consulted on the criteria and process for the SSA in 2008, and set out the process in their Government Response to consultation at:

http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file49865.pdf

This process does not include charging nominators for the cost of assessing sites.

Any new nuclear power stations would be proposed, developed, constructed and operated by energy companies. It is Government’s role to set the right policy framework to attract investment in energy projects. In the past Government have undertaken strategic siting assessments for offshore renewables and for the licensing of oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. As with those projects, the cost of the SSA will be met by Government as part of their role to set the policy framework for energy investments.

The approximate costs from inception to date are shown in the following table. These are costs of consultancy organisations who have contributed towards delivering the SSA. This does not include DECC staff costs.