Clause 46
Energy Bill
4:00 pm
Malcolm Wicks (Minister of State (Energy), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Croydon North, Labour)
The Secretary of State can make regulations so that the procedure set out in the clause does not apply to certain modifications. Regulations made under the clause could set a material financial threshold for operational and technical changes in terms of their impact on decommissioning and waste management cost estimates, so that any changes below that level—or, indeed, any cumulative changes over a certain period—would not need the Secretary of State’s approval.
The tiered approach is consistent with that of the Health and Safety Executive and its enforcement of safety standards under licence condition 22 of the nuclear site licence. This power is important because it allows the operator to concentrate on running the station without having to seek approval for modifications which, for example, do not impact significantly on the costs of waste and decommissioning.
To ensure that the clause does not have negative implications for health, safety or environmental matters, the Secretary of State is required to consult interested bodies prior to making the regulations. Regulations made under the clause will also set out how the operator is to inform the Secretary of State of such modifications. That will ensure that the Secretary of State is made aware of any changes to an approved programme, even if he does not have to approve them. The Secretary of State has other powers in the Bill and the programme to obtain information about such changes.