Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the benefits of ensuring that any deal with foreign investors on the funding of new nuclear power stations is independent from the manufacture and supply of the components required to build that infrastructure.

The UK welcomes high quality overseas investment in the UK and the safe and economic development of nuclear power. It is the responsibility of the developers of new nuclear power stations to source components for the plant, in line with the UK’s robust nuclear regulatory regime. This regime requires the highest standards in safety and security to be met by developers and their technology providers. Quality assurance of all components for a nuclear power station are included within this regime.

The Government has made its policy clear in discussion with developers, that UK content to the supply chain should be maximised and is hence working closely with them to identify further UK opportunities in support of this. The Government also has supplier development and improvement programmes (Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and Fit for Nuclear (F4N)) in place to help the UK supply chain better position itself to bid for these opportunities.