(New Forest West)
(Con): When will I be able to get one of these little
modular, Rolls-Royce reactors?
: I think my right hon.
Friend is referring to small modular reactors, the technology
behind which the Government have put their support. The ability
to finance them will start to come in, and I would hope to speak
further on that with my right hon. Friend...
(Kingswood) (Con):...Yet the
real advantages of this new funding system will come in relation
to emerging innovative nuclear energy technologies. As anyone who
is interested in reaching net zero will be aware, plans to
develop third-generation nuclear reactors are well under way,
with British companies such as Rolls-Royce
leading the way. Some of those innovations—I have mentioned small
modular nuclear reactors—have been designed to be able to be
mass-manufactured at one site, powered by an SMR nuclear power
plant, and then shipped domestically or internationally,
massively reducing the cost. That brilliant technology will have
the added benefit, I believe, of helping to power hydrogen
electrolysers, which are highly more efficient if they are given
a supply of heat. In turn, those will be able to decarbonise
sectors that are the most difficult to decarbonise—the
hard-to-abate groups that energy cannot touch, which need liquid
fuel. The potential for nuclear heat and energy to generate
hydrogen I think has the potential, in turn, to generate a clean
energy revolution...
(Gloucester) (Con): My
hon. Friend is making some good points about the incredible
efficiency of nuclear power operating 24 hours a day. On the
specific point of how to finance new nuclear power, does he agree
that, when the financing for Hinkley Point was being developed
almost a decade ago, it would have been impossible to do a
regulated asset-based proposal because, having not built a new
nuclear power station for a generation, the risks to the taxpayer
would have been enormous? Now that Hinckley Point is being done,
however, we can take that same model on to Sizewell C and then
hopefully on to Wylfa and elsewhere, gaining experience,
expertise and reductions in cost as we go along. Does he agree
that this is therefore the right model at this time?
(Morecambe and Lunesdale)
(Con): I totally agree with my hon. Friend. We can take
forward this model of heavy lifters, which is how I refer to the
bespoke power stations at Hinkley Point.
Rolls-Royce has talked at length about a factory
in which it would build modular nuclear power stations akin to
the power plants on nuclear submarines, which are built not far
from my constituency—we see them across the bay...
: My hon. Friend rightly
referred to the phrase “a fleet of nuclear power stations”. Of
course, in that context, Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C would be
the aircraft carriers, as would anything in the future in Wylfa,
but there are also opportunities for the smaller frigates. That
is where the small modular reactors being proposed by
Rolls-Royce could come as an extremely useful
addition to those aircraft carriers. Does he agree?
(Bolton West) (Con): That
is such an important point. I agree entirely that we already have
the larger-scale nuclear reactors and the established technology.
It is so important that we look at SMRs and AMRs, and at the
leadership that can be provided in a consortium by
Rolls-Royce. If we get in early and develop that
technology in the United Kingdom, we can export it around the
world and create more wealth in the United Kingdom from this
incredibly important source of energy and the power stations...
(Ynys Môn) (Con):...When
Hitachi withdrew the development consent order for Wylfa Newydd
at the start of this year, it cited programme financing as the
main factor. I am co-founder and chair of the nuclear delivery
group, which I set up with my fellow atomic kitten, my hon.
Friend the Member for Copeland (), who is a passionate
advocate for nuclear. Over the past 18 months, we have regularly
raised new-build financing as a significant concern. I am
delighted to see BEIS respond to this issue and bring this Bill
to the table. Companies such as Bechtel and
Rolls-Royce are already keen to establish new
nuclear at Wylfa Newydd, so this proposed regulated asset base
model offers significant hope to Anglesey...
To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE
