Quote from Hansard 11 October 2007 col 430:
“Mr. David Chaytor (Bury, North) (Lab): Is my right hon. Friend confident that he can honour the Government’s guarantee that there will be no future subsidy from the taxpayer for any new nuclear build, given that no one has the slightest idea about what the future decommissioning and waste management costs will be?
“Mr. Hutton: Yes, we are clear about that, and the arguments that support it were clearly set out in the nuclear consultation document. My hon. Friend raises a fundamentally important aspect that has come up repeatedly during the public consultation, but I believe that we have set out the right way forward. There will be no taxpayer subsidy and no hidden subsidies for new nuclear if Her Majesty’s Government reach that decision. That is the right and sensible way to proceed.”
Below are some points which have financial implications:
A nuclear power station is a large scale and long term investment. If the private sector is to invest in nuclear power it will want long term guarantees for the return on money invested.
The huge sums going into nuclear power starves investment in research and construction of alternative energy installations.
In the EU, the maximum economic liability of nuclear operators is set by the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability, and the Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention. Although the maximum operator liability was revised upwards in 2004 to 700 million Euros, this amount would be truly insignificant in the event of a nuclear disaster.
The Finnish nuclear power station, Olkiluoto 3, is under construction. Areva (French) and Siemen (German) offered a fixed price of Euros 3.2bn.and a fixed delivery time. Commercial banks (mainly the German Bayerische Landesbank) arranged a syndicate loan to the Finnish utility Teleollisuuden Voima Oy for 2.6 per cent interest. In March 2007, The European Renewable Energy Federation (EREF) filed an annulment procedure against this.
Olkilouto 3 was to have been finished by 2009, but the present estimate is 2011. Analysts estimate an overrun cost of 1.5bn Euros.
In a press declaration 25th September 2007 European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF): “deplores COFACE (Compagnie Francaise d’Assurance pour le Commerce Exterieur) state aid decision of the European Commission in the case of nuclear power support. On Tuesday, 25th of September the European Commission decided that the 610 million EUR export credit guarantee from the French export credit agency COFACE to French nuclear vendor Areva for the Olkiluoto-3 nuclear reactor in Finland does not constitute illegal state aid. EREF had launched a complaint against this deal and against the participation of the German Bayerische Landesbank.”
Now it is up to the British taxpayer to make sure that no financial help to the private nuclear industry is given should it get into trouble as the Finnish nuclear reactor under construction has, and that there are sufficient funds to make sure that the nuclear waste generated is safely stored for at least 100 000 years.
See www.eref-europe.org and www.greenpeace.fi for more information.
Main background info from WISE Amsterdam www.antenna.nl/wise
(“Unfair Aid, the Subsidies Keeping Nuclear Energy Afloat” No 630 & 631 – see also WISE Nuclear Monitor December 20,2007 No .664 pp 2-9 ” The Economics of Nuclear Power”)