There was virtually universal support in the House of Commons chamber today for the government's project (official media release here). It is only a pity that it took an Urgent Question to bring a minister to the despatch box to explain and answer questions. Once again, news of a significant development had been released to the world by media release before MPs had had a chance to consider it. The fact that the nuclear deal is being launched in Trawsfynnydd is little compensation.
There were one or two questions outstanding. Only one member, Barry Sheerman, asked about safety and waste products, only to receive the bland response from minister Gyimah that "safety was paramount". The subject of decommissioning was not even raised.
Those quibbles apart, this project is the sort of thing I have advocated for some time. Nuclear power generation is now a mature technology and at least one design (CANDU) can virtually be bought off the shelf. Although the small nuclear reactor, which is the subject of the current project, is new, it will be based on known light-water technology. It is good to see that Rolls-Royce, rather than a Chinese or Japanese company, is leading the project.
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