Nuclear Energy: Small Modular Reactors

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Monday 10th June 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in identifying a design for small modular nuclear reactors.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and in so doing draw attention to my interests as set out in the register.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Henley) (Con)]

My Lords, there are many designs in development around the world for application in a diverse range of markets. The Government are assessing eight advanced modular reactors through the AMR R&D programme. We have received the feasibility studies and will announce any contracts for promising designs in the summer. We are also considering a proposal from the UK SMR consortium to the industrial strategy challenge fund. We will make a decision on this soon.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

I am grateful to my noble friend for his reply and pleased that the Government continue to encourage the development of this technology. Can he confirm that the Trawsfynydd site in north Wales is still being considered as a trial site to test a whole range of different designs for generation III and generation IV SMRs?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I can confirm to my noble friend that Trawsfynydd remains a potential site; it has been neither ruled in nor ruled out. We believe that small and advanced nuclear reactors have the potential to drive down costs through technology and production innovations.

Renewable Energy

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Wednesday 5th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I too am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, for initiating this important debate. It is important because it has to be worth exploring any form of power generation that harnesses natural resources to provide baseload power, so long as any potential harm to the environment can be mitigated. I was particularly interested to hear more about offshore tidal lagoons: £82 per megawatt hour for 25 years is more than competitive for a nascent technology. The trick has always been to develop a technology that is scalable and commercially viable.

Tidal power has been of particular interest to me because for 40 years, I have lived in the hope that Wales will be the first country to discover how to harness the power of the sea to generate our power. After all, we have the largest tidal range in the world bar one: the Bay of Fundy in Canada—I have always wanted that to be a Trivial Pursuit question. We have been talking about this for so long without coming to a resolution. Maybe that is just the way of the modern world; in the 1950s, it took less than five years to move from a few lightbulbs powered by nascent nuclear fission technology to the first output from a commercial-scale nuclear power facility.

In 1978, I wrote a dissertation as part of my IB at Atlantic College on the costs and benefits of generating power in the Severn estuary. Sadly, my younger self threw it out, not realising its future potential as a resource, but I remember concluding even then that the environmental impact of the proposed barrage did not seem to justify either the amount of power that it would generate or the cost of its construction. In time, the latter might have been mitigated if turbines had been integrated within the structure of the Second Severn Crossing, or the Prince of Wales Bridge as it is now called. We were also in an era when North Sea gas reserves were lulling us all into a false sense of energy security.

In common with many, I was disappointed that the Government did not follow the recommendations of the Hendry review. I was disappointed for Swansea given the regeneration that a large infrastructure project of this nature would inspire, as well as jobs in the supply chain, tourism and scientific innovation. However, even I recognised that the required subsidy of £305 per megawatt hour meant that it probably did not make a lot of commercial sense initially. But it could have provided proof of concept. As the Hendry report indicated, promising innovations and technological advances could have been made as part of a tidal lagoon programme that might have helped drive costs down. As it is, it joins the long list of potential investments that have been described as Wales’ artists’ impressions.

However, as the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, mentioned, exciting new technology which can operate in slow-current water is being trialled by Minesto off the coast of Holyhead in north Wales. This “deep green” system operates a tethered kite-shaped turbine, its 12-metre wing carrying a turbine, generator and control system attached to a concrete cable between 80 and 120 metres long, and flies on the hydrodynamic lift provided by slow tidal currents.

The company believes that, in time, the power generated from this site alone could power more than 60,000 households. It is quick to install. The company began installation in May 2018 and, in October, successfully generated electricity. All this was achieved with private capital and only €13 million of investment from the European regional investment fund through the Welsh European Funding Office. It is an encouraging development. In comparison, in 2003, with the support of the then DTI, The Engineering Business Ltd designed, built and installed the world’s first full-scale tidal stream generator, a 150-kilowatt Stingray generator, in Yell Sound in the Shetlands. It had no significant environmental impact, but the power it produced was surprisingly intermittent, the cost of the technology was high, and installation and maintenance difficult. It was also generating power in an area where demand was low and the cost of transmitting it to the grid high. The project was terminated. Technology has indeed moved on.

How do we encourage the private sector to invest in renewable energy? It is estimated that the UK has reached the point where huge new investment in power generation is needed, up to £350 billion by 2030, to keep the power system in a fit state—not just in terms of low-carbon technologies.

The problem is one of trust and timescale. In most commodity markets, scarcity of supply drives up prices, which in turn attracts capital investment to generate increased profits. This has not happened either here or in the rest of Europe, where power stocks are one of the worst-performing sectors. Distrust between the political and industrial communities has not encouraged investment in a field where the period between the emergence of a new technology and its commercial exploitation can be measured in decades. Set against a political cycle of four to five years, this is not surprising.

The Energy Act 2013 introduced CfDs, the long-term guaranteed price for output that was designed to find a strike price sufficiently attractive to potential investors to finance low-carbon new build but low enough to be acceptable to government and consumers. In the case of new nuclear and tidal, this has manifestly not been enough.

The Government need to take that leap of faith by supporting the new schemes that have followed on from Swansea, which promise greater efficiencies and lower costs than the original. The same will be true of battery technology, small modular nuclear reactors and even an Iceland interconnector. To do that, we need strong leadership from government, common sense from the Green movement and confidence among the scientific community that they be allowed to operate in a healthy, supportive environment. While we cannot take the politics out of energy, the current buzzword is compromise. Without that, we shall never produce the mix of technologies that is necessary to meet our energy needs.

Nuclear Sector Deal

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the Statement and, in particular, its focus on SMRs and Wales. I acknowledge the warmth of the statement made, too, by the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester. I declare my interest as an adviser to a nuclear technology company. Can my noble friend the Minister confirm that the Trawsfynydd site is suitable for trialling more than one technology and that the focus on Generation III light water technology does not preclude exploring Generation IV molten salt reactors, which offer potential benefits in proliferation resistance, greatly increased efficiency and the ability to use plutonium waste as fuel, and are already in the licensing process in the United States?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I believe my noble friend is correct, but she will appreciate that I was informed about repeating this Answer only some 15 minutes before the House met. I cannot give precise details about the Trawsfynydd site at this stage, but I will write to her with further details. As I said, I think she is correct.

Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Tuesday 22nd May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of the Bill—very briefly, because at this stage of the debate, much of what I wanted to say has been said by other noble Lords.

At first glance, the imposition of price controls would not immediately strike one as a true Conservative policy. Edmund Burke, however, held that it was the duty of government to prevent people—whether consumers, workers or investors—from being exploited. That is exactly what the Bill does. As we have heard, the Bill seeks to protect the consumer from the significant price increases that can arise from standard variable tariffs. These are imposed on those of us—11 million at the last count—who fail to renew our tariffs with energy suppliers in a timely fashion. If any noble Lords here have not made contact with their supplier in the past two years, I suggest they do so today, as they will almost certainly be on a default tariff—although it may take them until tomorrow, as we have just heard.

Under the Bill, Ofgem must set retail price controls in the form of a temporary but absolute cap through consultation with the industry using an agreed transparent methodology in the next five months. As my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay observed, that is no small task. Notwithstanding the very poor behaviour that has been prevalent in the industry over the past decade, I add my voice to concerns expressed by my noble friend Lord Hunt and my noble and learned friend, as well as by the noble Lords, Lord Whitty, Lord Stevenson and Lord Carlile, about the options for redress and the building-in of poor governance to this legislation.

It is proposed that the only recourse to an appeal that a retail supplier or a consumer will have to challenge the cap proposed by Ofgem is through a judicial review. As has been said, a judicial review is many things, but it does not seem entirely appropriate to judge anything beyond the legality of the control or indeed whether the process by which it has been imposed has been executed in an appropriate fashion. Further, it has no time limit and in many ways it seems a pretty blunt instrument to use as a mechanism for dealing with retail price controls.

Meanwhile, as we have also heard, the Competition and Markets Authority is an established feature of the existing regulatory model in the UK. It has proved itself to be faster and more effective at providing the level of forensic, commercial analysis that may be needed to resolve disputes. Other sectors of the economy —water companies, mobile phone companies, Openreach and networks that can be subject to price controls—have recourse to the CMA, and I remain unconvinced that judicial review represents the best route to good governance in this instance.

The last thing I seek to do is to put the regulator in a weak position, particularly with regard to this industry. I understand that there is a fear that questioning the appeals procedure could be a delaying tactic by the major energy suppliers, which are seeking to delay the imposition of any cap. This would seem unlikely, as any CMA appeals process could run alongside the imposition of the cap.

In the long term, only healthy market competition will obviate the need for a permanent cap. However, I believe that a temporary cap is necessary while other measures are taken to promote competition. If set at a sensible level, competition need not be stifled, and there should be plenty of scope for smaller operators in particular to compete effectively.

To conclude, I support the Bill and the intentions behind its interventions. I am confident that it can be made to protect vulnerable consumers and to remove the penalty for loyalty. In common with others present, I just have reservations about the appeals process contained in the Bill, and I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Swansea Tidal Lagoon: Hendry Review

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, south-west Wales—and the whole of Wales—is not at the bottom of the queue. As my right honourable friend the Minister for Energy made clear in another place this afternoon, she has been engaged in discussions with colleagues in the Welsh Government. A decision will be taken at the appropriate time but we do not want to be rushed into it.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, this iconic project would be a world first. It would power 120,000 homes, develop exportable technology and create a major tourist attraction for Swansea. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the subsidy—I acknowledge that a large one would be required to prove this pioneering form of energy generation—does the Minister agree that this decision has been in the long grass for long enough?

Nuclear Safeguards Bill

Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist Excerpts

2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 7th February 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, I actually find it encouraging to see this important Bill arriving in your Lordship’s House so early in the year. In the informative briefing given to us by the Ministers and officials last week, we were told that many issues identified in the position papers published last summer are well on the way to being resolved, and this has to be good news. It is most important that there is a seamless transfer in safeguarding arrangements for the non-proliferation of nuclear materials, as well as for continued co-operation in nuclear research and the mobility of workers and trade in this important sector. Obviously, there are two remaining political issues which are material—namely, those that relate to a transition period or, even better, an extension of our membership of Euratom, as suggested by my noble friend Lady Neville-Rolfe, and the Henry VIII powers in Clause 2, which will allow the Secretary of State to amend existing Acts as new international agreements are negotiated. But other issues, such as the transfer of Euratom-owned equipment, the status of existing contracts between member states and the UK, and the presence of fissile material in the UK which is owned by another member state, are, we hear, well under way, and I am sure that we all look forward to being updated on their status.

We leave Euratom on 29 March next year, and it is essential that new reporting and verification processes are in place on the date. We need to have the correct number of inspectors recruited and trained by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, and I understand that we already have half the number in training and a further recruitment round is under way. Again, I look forward to my noble friend the Minister updating us on this issue and its impact on the budget for the ONR.

Of course, while we may no longer be a member of Euratom, many of the standards it sets are legally binding and arise from obligations to which the UK is in any event committed under the International Atomic Energy Agency, of which we were a founder member in 1957. But I welcome my noble friend’s commitment to adhere to the higher standards of Euratom. The UK must continue its leading role in the development of international security and safety standards, irrespective of our future relationship with Euratom. For this industry is extremely important to the UK; it employs 66,000 people, and we are a world leader in nuclear fusion technologies and are committed to maintaining this position. I strongly believe that putting our regulatory house in order at an early stage will generate the confidence necessary to attract further investment in the industry. I am reassured that the pace of negotiations with other member states will enable this to happen, for we need to see advances in nuclear technology—for example, into a new generation of small modular nuclear reactors, which may represent a cheaper and quicker way to generate the new, low-carbon power that the country needs.

Finally, I understand entirely that this Bill is concerned with safeguarding, not safety arrangements, and with a new legal and regulatory framework. Medical isotopes do not fall within the scope of the Bill, nor indeed of this department. However, practical arrangements for their continued import to the UK do not appear to be covered anywhere. Most are imported from eastern Europe and many have a shelf life of only two weeks. The potential disruption to their supply is causing concern to cancer sufferers and to the medical profession generally. I take this opportunity to thank the Minister for suggesting that he arrange a meeting between BEIS, the Treasury and interested parties to discuss this important area of real concern.