Clause 6 - Designated responsibilities
Energy Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mr Colin Challen (Morley and Rothwell, Labour)
I rise to seek further clarification on the first two sentences of clause 6, (1)(a) and (1)(b). First of all, I recollect that, on Thursday, my hon. Friend the Minister said that:
''the NDA's running of power stations will be limited, in the nuclear case, to the Magnox situation''.—[Official Report, Standing Committee B, 20 May 2004; c. 39.]
That is an existing situation. I want to be absolutely clear that the clauses will not empower the NDA to start decommissioning future new build power stations. It does not seem entirely clear that the clauses limit the NDA's responsibilities to Magnox power stations, especially as clause 6(1)(b) refers to:
''decommissioning of those and other designated nuclear installations''.
Will the Minister clear up that those responsibilities will be limited to extant nuclear installations?