UK Inquiry Tracker

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

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Third report from Session 2022-23

20 May
2022

Report published

Third Report - The future of the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors

28 Feb
2022

Correspondence

Correspondence from Sarah Munby Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, re PAC hearing o…

7 Feb
2022

Oral evidence

Future of the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors

7 Feb
2022

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Future of the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

7 Feb 2022

View on parliament.uk

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

Reports 1 report · click to expand

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

4 results

7 Recommendation Not Addressed

Third Report - The future of the A…

Given the scale and complexity of decommissioning the AGR stations, we are concerned that the...

Given the scale and complexity of decommissioning the AGR stations, we are concerned that the Department’s oversight of a complex set of governance arrangements is itself not subject to sufficient scrutiny and challenge. The Department is performing a variety of … Read more Given the scale and complexity of decommissioning the AGR stations, we are concerned that the Department’s oversight of a complex set of governance arrangements is itself not subject to sufficient scrutiny and challenge. The Department is performing a variety of roles with regard to the decommissioning of the AGRs: it negotiated the decommissioning agreements with EDFE and has an ingoing role in ensuring the agreements work in the interest of the taxpayer; it is the sponsoring department of the NDA but will need to ensure that both the NDA and EDFE work effectively, for example to ensure that a site licence is granted by the regulator to the NDA prior to the handover of each station; and it has existing relationships with EDFE in relation to new nuclear projects. However, the centre of government has yet to put in place arrangements that can provide assurance that the Department is discharging its various responsibilities appropriately and that the decommissioning programme is performing effectively. The Department told us there were no immediate plans to include the programme in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), which provides independent assurance of government’s riskiest or costly projects, but it expects it to do so when the stations transfer to the NDA. In the meantime, the Department is developing metrics that would be akin to GMPP to provide assurance to HM Treasury and Cabinet Office. However, these metrics have not yet been developed. Recommendation: The Department should write to the Committee within the next six months setting out how it is assuring itself that it is discharging its oversight role effectively and detailing the current and future plans for reviewing the Department’s own performance. In addition, despite the Department’s assertions to the contrary, it should write to the Committee and explain why it shouldn’t place the programme on GMPP at an earlier stage in the transfer phase from EDFE to NDA so it can benefit from advice on Show less

Government Response

The Clerk of the House and Clerk of Parliament will oversee the programme and manage short-term risks to value for money to avoid nugatory expenditure.

HM Treasury

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9 Conclusion Not Addressed

Third Report - The future of the A…

The estimated cost of decommissioning the AGR stations, plus the PWR at Sizewell B, increased...

The estimated cost of decommissioning the AGR stations, plus the PWR at Sizewell B, increased from £12.6 billion in 2004–05 to £23.5 billion in 2020–21 in real terms. We asked the Department why the estimated cost of decommissioning the AGRs … Read more

Government Response

The government notes the cost increases and refers to its response to recommendation 2.

HM Treasury

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26 Conclusion Not Addressed

Third Report - The future of the A…

The long-term benefits of transferring the AGR stations into public ownership will depend on the...

The long-term benefits of transferring the AGR stations into public ownership will depend on the ability of Magnox Ltd to deliver efficiencies from combining the stations with its existing portfolio of nuclear stations. The NDA told us it expected to … Read more

Government Response

The government refers to its response to recommendation 6 regarding the risk that transfer negotiations between EDFE and NDA could drag on and increase costs.

HM Treasury

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27 Conclusion Not Addressed

Third Report - The future of the A…

Delivering the benefits intended from the new arrangements will require a clear long- term delivery...

Delivering the benefits intended from the new arrangements will require a clear long- term delivery strategy. The current EDFE approach for these stations involves putting reactor buildings into a state of care and maintenance lasting some decades to allow radioactivity … Read more

Government Response

The government refers to its response to recommendation 6 regarding the risk that transfer negotiations between EDFE and NDA could drag on and increase costs.

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

Parliament page