Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the evidential basis is for the statement in her speech on energy policy at the Institute of Civil Engineers on 18 November 2015 that nuclear power is safe.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government views safety at nuclear sites as paramount. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has regulatory and operational independence and is staffed with nuclear safety experts. It carries out inspections across the nuclear estate and has a wide range of enforcement powers with which to hold duty holders to account and secure sustained compliance with the law. Further, safety is kept under regular review in line with international best practice.

The Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Statement about the nuclear industry can be found in the 2014-15 Annual Report and Accounts (pages 26-44), which clearly sets out further the work undertaken by the ONR to ensure that industry meets the safety requirements:

http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/2015/annual-report-2014-15.pdf.

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