My honourable friend the Minister of State for Energy (Malcolm Wicks) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am announcing that I have, today, laid a departmental minute before the House regarding the granting of an indemnity related to nuclear occurrences forming part of new contracts for the LLWR at Drigg.

The NDA proposes to grant an indemnity against uninsurable claims from nuclear incidents that fall outside the regime offered by the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and the Paris and Brussels conventions to the contractor (and limited specified affiliates) who will operate the LLWR Site Licence Company. At present any such uninsurable claims are borne by the NDA. Given the low probability of a claim being brought the NDA has assessed that the benefits of engaging the contractor outweigh the small risk that the indemnity may be called.

A key element of the NDA’s strategy has been to use competition to improve the management and operation of its sites. The LLWR contracts will be the first to be awarded as a result of competition.

Copies of the departmental minute relating to this indemnity have been placed in the Libraries of the House and will be posted on the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website at www.berr.gov.uk.