Energy Bill

There is a great deal of material that can help to inform the hon. Gentleman on that point. We have said that, in principle, geological storage is the answer in the long term, and we have a process to bring that about; that is absolutely clear. On safety, there is nothing wrong, scientifically and environmentally, with interim storage for several decades. That is what is happening in many countries; I have seen it in France and in Britain. The issue is the long-term storage, and we have a strategy in place for that. There are many doubting Thomases, so I want to emphasise that we are absolutely committed when it comes to who pays for new nuclear power. The answer is the companies—full stop. It is not the taxpayer. That is an absolute commitment. We can discuss the issue in Committee, and I look forward to that, because I want to reassure colleagues on that point. Operators of new nuclear power stations will pay the full costs of decommissioning their stations, and their full share of waste management costs. By ““full decommissioning costs”” we mean the dismantling of the plant at the end of its operational life, and returning the site to a condition agreed on with the regulators. The ““full share”” of waste costs means the costs directly attributable to the disposal of new-build waste in a geological disposal facility and, furthermore, a contribution towards the fixed costs of building a geological disposal facility. We are conducting a cost-modelling exercise to determine estimates of waste management and decommissioning costs. That is significant, and I understand that there will be 100 questions about that.