Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Wednesday 22nd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a little early to give a definitive view to my noble friend but clearly the role of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary is a very important one. I reassure him that in the 14-year gap since I was last responsible for that force, there have been huge improvements in the way in which the constabulary works. I keep this matter under very close oversight.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, it is welcome news that the Minister has indicated there will be a decision by Great British Nuclear on SMR technologies in the spring. However, we still await any guidance on advanced modular reactors, let alone details on how they can come to the market and generate much-needed clean energy here in the UK from the early 2030s. A number of privately funded developers—newcleo, X-energy, TerraPower and others—are ready to go and want GBN to have a parallel process alongside the SMR competition to help them realise their ambitions in the UK as soon as possible. Will the Minister please give a clear indication on when a plan for AMRs will be published? Will His Majesty’s Government support those that want to get on with things in the meantime, invest in the UK, boost economic growth, and create thousands of jobs through their supply chains?

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her questions and we certainly take account of what she said. We all see the potential of AMRs. We have also seen that some of the major west coast companies in the US are interested in reaching agreements with project developers for AMRs to be sited near data centres in order to produce decarbonised energy. The noble Baroness’s Government produced an alternative routes to market consultation. We are currently considering the results of that and will make announcements in due course. I understand what she said about the role of GBN. These matters are all under earnest consideration at the moment.

Great British Nuclear: Modular Reactors

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 2nd December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress Great British Nuclear has made with its plans to deploy small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors, and what assessment they have made of the process for evaluating their design and manufacturing.

[The Minister of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath) (Lab)]

My Lords, Great British Nuclear is pushing forward the SMR competition for UK deployment and is now in negotiation with bidders, with final decisions to be taken in the spring. The Government are also actively exploring how we can enable alternative routes to market for advanced technologies, including AMRs, and we will set out our policy position in due course.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I thank the Minister for that Answer. Will he explain exactly what has caused the damaging schedule slippage within GBN? Is it the shortage of staff, underfunding, underestimating the workload required or the many layers of approval—11 separate Whitehall approval committees at the last count—in order to allow GBN to announce the latest download of SMR technologies?

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I think the noble Baroness will know the answer, because 16 months of the lifetime of GBN occurred under her party’s Administration. The fact is that we are working very closely with GBN. It has to go through considered processes. It has done two rounds of assessment and, as I have said, four technologies have been shortlisted, all of which are viable options for development. Crucial talks are now taking place. Companies will be invited to make final bids, and decisions will be made in the spring. I am confident that GBN will ensure that we get to that final decision as soon as possible.

Domestic Solar Panels

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 25th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

I am very grateful to my noble friend for that very helpful suggestion. I will make sure the taskforce gives it earnest consideration.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

My Lords, as the Government’s Great British Energy Bill enters Committee in the coming weeks, can the Minister confirm whether this will include the deployment of solar panels as part of its strategy? Given that I have the Minister’s attention, and following on from the questions from the noble Baroness, Lady Winterton, and the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, I draw his attention to GB-Sol, a spin-out from Cardiff University, which manufactures Welsh slate-looking tiles, which are suitable for both listed and heritage buildings.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

That is a very interesting point. It is worth making the point also that a number of British companies are assembling some of the solar panels imported from China. I agree that we need to look at all these areas.

In relation to the GB Energy Bill, the noble Baroness will know it is not our intent to place in the Bill the exact amount of energy generation we require from each source. That will be a matter for the GBE board in light of the Government’s overall priority-setting towards clean power and net zero.

Drax Power Limited: Ofgem Investigation

Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Monday 11th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, on the issue of data, I have checked with Ofgem. At the moment, it has no reason to think that Drax is not compliant, but it will not hesitate to act if required. On the question of subsidy to Drax, the noble Baroness is referring to the ROC system of subsidies, which the last Government oversaw for many years. The ROC comes to an end in 2027. The last Government issued a consultation on whether there should be transitional subsidy arrangements. We are considering the results of that work at the moment.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

Noble Lords will remember the “Panorama” exposé of the illegal sourcing of wood pellets from Canadian forests, a charge vigorously denied at the time by Drax. Our Conservative Government introduced the strict criteria that allowed Ofgem to conclude that there was not “sufficient evidence”. What plans do this Government have to ensure that Ofgem can continue to investigate any company receiving a subsidy?

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, it is clearly very important that companies in receipt of the ROC payments—and, indeed, where their biomass electricity generation is classified as low-carbon—are acting according to sustainability criteria. The last Government issued a call for evidence in 2021 and then took two years to publish a strategy, in 2023. On the revision of sustainability criteria, they rather ducked it, saying that they would produce a cross-sector consultation this year, which never happened. We are now working on that. It is clear that sustainability criteria need to be kept up to date. We will ensure that that happens.