To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the findings of the report published by Greenpeace on 30 June 2015 that nuclear regulators in Europe have failed to act on lessons from the Fukushima tsunami incident in April 2011; and if she will make a statement.
Answered on
6 July 2015
The UK Government, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and operators have acted on lessons from Fukushima.
In 2011 the then Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change commissioned a report from the UK Chief Nuclear Inspector, the Weightman Report, on the implications of the events in Japan and the lessons to be learned for the UK nuclear industry. Acting on the recommendations of the independent Weightman report, an extensive programme of improvements has been undertaken by operators, the ONR and Government.
In addition, the UK took part in the European “Stress Test” process, publishing its findings in 2011. In December 2012 the ONR published the UK National Action Plan for meeting the recommendations from the stress tests and ONR’s own reports. ONR has published a number of progress updates to the National Action Plan, and most recently did so in December 2014. The ONR’s updated National Action Plan report provides evidence that all stress test actions are either completed or have a planned completion date. Government and the ONR will continue to oversee implementation of the lessons learned from Fukushima to ensure all relevant work is satisfactorily completed and agreed timescales are met.
The UK Government is determined to deliver significant new nuclear generation. Nuclear power is an important part of our energy mix now, and will continue to be in the future. The UK has one of the most robust regulatory and safety regimes in the world, and the sector operates on the principle of continuous improvement.