2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 24 April 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:23, 24 April 2018

Yes, indeed. Mike Hedges makes an extremely important point. The UK Government has chosen to protect taxpayers from exposure to all of the costs of waste and decommissioning liabilities of new nuclear power plants through the Energy Act 2008. Our understanding is that the total decommissioning costs within the funded decommissioning plan, including the contingency, are estimated to be around £8.5 billion, but given the costed index-linked, actual costs by the end of the station's 60-year operational life could be as high as £116 billion, once inflation is taken into account. Now, clearly, that's not a level playing field. Discussions are ongoing between BEIS—the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy—the developers and the Welsh Government about the technical issues and actual costs associated with the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, including on financing the project to include other equivalent costs.