Nuclear Management Partners

Lord Cunningham of Felling Excerpts

Thursday 20th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I will return to my first Answer. Ministers were cited after a full review by the NDA and my officials were in on that review; we have been kept informed at every juncture. The decision to go forward with this contract is absolutely right. We are building on the work that has been done. Noble Lords from across the Chamber cannot take lightly the challenges facing the Sellafield site. We are discovering things that were not properly characterised in the inventory and so we have to deal with new challenges as well as with the current ones. We are in a position to see, review and make sure that progress is being made.

[Lord Cunningham of Felling (Lab)]

My Lords, I had the honour to represent the constituency that included the Sellafield site for 35 years in the House of Commons. I agree with the Minister that these are very complex issues. However, is it not a sad reflection on the decline of our once world lead in civil nuclear power? Sellafield was the biggest single yen earner in the British economy. Now the lead partners in this whole programme—which is crucially important to west Cumbria and way beyond—are not British; they are American.