Future of the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 12 Jan 2022 Closed: 2 Sep 2022 Parliament page
The UK’s nuclear power is generated primarily by seven advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) stations, owned by EDF Energy. The AGRs are scheduled to stop generating electricity during this decade, at which point fuel will be removed and transferred to Sellafield for safe storage. The AGRs will then be transferred to … Read more
10 Recommendations
21 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Letter
1 Event
Activity timeline 5 events
2 Sep
2022
Report published
20 May
2022
Report published
28 Feb
2022
Correspondence
7 Feb
2022
Oral evidence
7 Feb
2022
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
7 Feb 2022
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Future of the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors
David Peattie · Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Jerry Haller · EDF Energy Sarah Munby · Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Umran Nazir · Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Third Report - The future of the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors HC 118 20 May 2022 31 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
7 results
Clear
1 Conclusion Acknowledged
Third Report - The future of the A…
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (the Department), the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and EDF Energy (EDFE) on the decommissioning of the … Read more
Government Response
The response provides background information on the UK's nuclear power stations, the Nuclear Liabilities Fund, and the decommissioning process, but does not address any specific recommendation.
HM Treasury
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8 Conclusion Acknowledged
Third Report - The future of the A…
The Committee has previously identified significant uncertainty regarding the estimation of decommissioning costs.
The Committee has previously identified significant uncertainty regarding the estimation of decommissioning costs. We examined, for example, the NDA’s management arrangements for decommissioning the Magnox nuclear power stations in 2020 and identified significant difficulties estimating decommissioning costs. We concluded that … Read more
Government Response
The department agrees that there remains a significant risk that decommissioning costs will rise further and refers to their response to recommendation 2.
HM Treasury
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15 Conclusion Acknowledged
Third Report - The future of the A…
The assets of the Fund have been created from the contributions made by the station...
The assets of the Fund have been created from the contributions made by the station operators, income from investments, capital injections from government and the proceeds from the sale of the Fund’s shares in British Energy. Despite EDFE extending the … Read more
Government Response
The department agrees that the terms of the 2009 sale of the nuclear stations agreed by the Department with EDFE placed a disproportionate amount of risk for meeting future decommissioning costs on the taxpayer and refers to their response to recommendation 3.
HM Treasury
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28 Conclusion Acknowledged
Third Report - The future of the A…
The AGR decommissioning programme is complex, and key organisations already have substantial portfolios of work.
The AGR decommissioning programme is complex, and key organisations already have substantial portfolios of work. The NDA, for instance, already has a very heavy workload decommissioning the Magnox fleet and parts of the Sellafield site to which the AGRs will … Read more
Government Response
The department agrees that arrangements for transferring nuclear stations to NDA are worryingly under-developed, and there is a risk that transfer negotiations between EDFE and NDA could drag on and increase the costs to the taxpayer and refers to the response to recommendation 6.
HM Treasury
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29 Conclusion Acknowledged
Third Report - The future of the A…
The Department told us that following its experience of the Magnox contract, it had undertaken...
The Department told us that following its experience of the Magnox contract, it had undertaken a full review to establish whether it had the right governance and it was now confident that this was the case. It also told us … Read more
Government Response
The department agrees that its oversight of a complex set of governance arrangements is not subject to sufficient scrutiny and challenge and refers to the response to recommendation 7.
HM Treasury
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30 Conclusion Acknowledged
Third Report - The future of the A…
Decommissioning the AGR stations is an unusual programme compared with others in government as no...
Decommissioning the AGR stations is an unusual programme compared with others in government as no single organisation has complete responsibility and authority for performance overall. The success of the programme will depend significantly on the ability of the Department, NDA … Read more
Government Response
The department agrees that its oversight of a complex set of governance arrangements is not subject to sufficient scrutiny and challenge and refers to the response to recommendation 7.
HM Treasury
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31 Recommendation Acknowledged
Third Report - The future of the A…
Given the centrality of its role we asked the Department whether its own role was...
Given the centrality of its role we asked the Department whether its own role was subject to sufficient scrutiny and whether AGR decommissioning should be included in the Government Major Projects Portfolio. The Department told us that similar concerns had … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees and states that monitoring, reporting, and assurance processes were put into place and will revert with further details and how these processes provide appropriate oversight and facilitate the necessary scrutiny and challenge. The department will also approach the IPA for their support.
HM Treasury
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Government Response AI assessment · 31 of 10 classified
Accepted 13
Acknowledged 7
Deferred 5
Not Addressed 4
Rejected 2
Total 10 recs + 21 conclusions
Correspondence 1 letter
28 Feb 2022 Correspondence from Sarah Munby Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, re PAC hearing on “Future of the Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactors”, dated 21 February 2022
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