Speeches by Downie.

“I can hear Sir Humphrey telling you, “On the one hand, and on the other hand”.”

“What are the additional risks from having a larger number of SMRs compared to having a small number of central, larger nuclear power stations?”

“That would be helpful. It goes back to the earlier point that we need to try to explain this to our constituents as well, because we will get these questions.”

“Is that based on things such as one-in-1,000-year events? We heard about some of this risk last week from GBE-N, when we were trying to get to the bottom of what they mean by “risk” or “events”, and we never quite got there.”

“Regardless of having more targets, as long as the standards are the same—”

“Just finally, we have touched on some issues regarding siting. What consideration is given to rapidly changing climate when you are considering which sites might be safe for nuclear development? How is that playing into some of the siting studies that you were discussing?”

“Just to pick up, first of all, on some of those questions from Mike around security, there have been some concerns about the requirement for importing nuclear fuel from Russian dependencies. How exposed are we to that risk?”

“Is that being built into any of the contracts for requirements for the future—that nothing can be relied upon from Russia?”

“We have experience of that kind of security when it comes to physical buildings. What reassurance do you have from suppliers around cyber-security as well? We have quite a good history of building buildings that we understand. How are we making sure that we are similarly protected from cyber as well?”

“Are there requirements on suppliers and contractors to engage with the National Cyber Security Centre?”

“In what way? I am aware that we are slightly short of time but can you expand on that slightly?”

“We have heard in previous sessions, as well as today, about the importance of nuclear skills, and about the shortages across some areas. Gareth, with that in mind, why is UKNNL seeking to cut 200 jobs? What impact is that likely to have on the Government’s ability to deliver their nuclear pathway?”

“You talk about this as a short-term measure. How do we make sure that these skills are not being lost at a time when we need them? I will possibly ask Simon to contribute here as well. How are we making sure there is a connection between GBE-N and the NNL on how those skills are not lost? You say it is short-term. Is i…”

“Another thing to pick up on—”

“You have 200 redundancies and you think you will want to rehire those people in six months?”

“Is it your view—and you mentioned this earlier—that you are losing capability that you would naturally have lost anyway, or naturally wanted to lose anyway, because it was based on older technology and, six months in the future, you will be hiring people who can do the next stages? Is that broadly what you are saying?”

“You mentioned that you have brought the timescale down from four years to two. What is a reasonable target? Where do you want to get it to?”

“We will come back to that. I want to explore it in a bit more detail in a second.”

“What are the measures? What can you do to make sure vendors are treating the process properly and not as a vehicle for investment decisions for FDI? That question is for whoever feels best able to answer it.”

“I want to talk about the generic design assessment and ask each of you to describe very briefly what your view is on how effective it has been up to this point, given that only one has led to construction. We will then explore some issues around that. Andy, a very short answer to start with, please, and then we will ta…”