(Lab) (Maiden
Speech):...Those days, however, reinforced what has since been a
lifelong love for British manufacturing, and I always felt myself
blessed to have over 40 years in my then constituency the last
manufacturer of rail rolling stock in this country to have
capacity to design, manufacture, test and service new trains,
and, separately but equally importantly, the civil aviation
headquarters of Rolls-Royce a source
of great pride to all who live in and associate with the city of
Derby...
(Con):... Secondly, there has
been much discussion about small modular reactors, which is
absolutely right. I had discussions with Rolls-Royce two and a
half years ago, when it claimed it was just about ready to go
forward. It is not the present Government's fault but,
if Rolls-Royce was ready
then, I cannot understand why there was no decision. I asked
questions of my noble friends on the Front Bench on that when we
were in government, and we still do not have a decision. I say to
the Minister: if I and, more importantly, Rolls-Royce
are right, let us please have a decision on that...
(Con):...GBN is
concentrating on selecting winners in the SMR competition. There
are four companies still in the race, of which three are
American-owned. Only Rolls-Royce represents
British industry and technology. There are other technologies,
some of which were invented here, such as the high temperature
gas-cooled reactor technology invented at Winfrith, Dorset in
1965 by the UKAEA. The IP is owned by the Japan Atomic Energy
Agency. The Japanese Government, who are still constrained in
their domestic development of nuclear power because of the 2011
Fukushima disaster, have wanted to collaborate with overseas
Governments, especially the UK, in supporting the commercial
development of this technology. The demonstrator has been running
in Japan for more than 10 years and is inherently safe. The heat
energy produced by an HTGR at 950 degrees Celsius enables the
decarbonisation of many industrial processes, including the
production of green hydrogen at scale.
Unless the Government change course very soon, we will miss the
chance to become the manufacturing and distribution hub for
EMEA—this invaluable technology, which is now languishing in
phase B of the Government's AMR competition. They have committed
a mere £55 million from the future nuclear enabling fund, to be
shared between two successful bidders, but there is no commitment
that this competition will continue; its only purpose is to
construct a demonstrator by the early 2030s, in time for
potential AMRs to support net zero by 2050. We will have missed
the boat by a country mile.
We have the chance to put together a public-private UK-Japan
consortium to commercialise this technology now. We should press
ahead with that, and with Rolls-Royce's SMR technology, using
home-grown knowledge and experience developed over 60 years of
supporting the Royal Navy's nuclear fleet. New nuclear builds
would support thousands of highly-skilled jobs, directly and in
the supply chain, during construction and then for decades during
operation, often in remote areas of the country. They would reuse
locations where existing grid connections are in place...
To read the whole debate, OPEN HERE
