Civil Nuclear Road Map Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Viscount Hanworth
Main Page: Viscount Hanworth (Labour - Excepted Hereditary)Department Debates - View all Viscount Hanworth's debates with the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
(3 months, 4 weeks ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Viscount Hanworth (Lab)
My Lords, the road map makes frequent reference to high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. An indigenous project to build such a reactor, called U-Battery, was shelved due to a lack of government support. From whom do the Government propose to import such technology—which, by the way, was pioneered in Great Britain? When will the Government give sufficient support to our native industry, which was once pre-eminent in the world?
Lord Callanan (Con)
The noble Viscount makes an important point. We had one of the most pre-eminent nuclear industries, but that industry was left to die during a number of Governments, particularly starting with the Labour Government in 1997. Now we are on a different page. There are a whole host of different new technologies and processes coming forward in this space, and it is very much the job of Great British Nuclear to guide us in the process of selecting the best technologies to take forward.