Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of the application by EDF Energy to relax safety limits at Dungeness nuclear power station.

The application by EDF Energy regarding safety limits in its safety case at Dungeness B is a regulatory matter and therefore taken forward by the independent nuclear regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which reviews such arrangements set out in safety cases.

I understand that EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Ltd submitted a revised safety case to ONR to demonstrate that safety would be maintained at Dungeness B as a result of their proposals to revise the safety limits for allowable graphite weight loss in the reactor cores, and that ONR was satisfied that the justifications in the revised safety case demonstrated that the licensee's obligations to ensure safety would be met.