LETTER: Nuclear safety: commitment and credibility

From Mr John G. Collier

Sir: I want to demolish the canard that privatisation will have any adverse impact on nuclear safety at Britain's nuclear power stations ("Nuclear sell-off 'a threat to safety' ", 18 October). I write as chairman of Nuclear Electric plc with over 40 years' experience in the nuclear industry, much of it directly related to safety.

Over the past five years Nuclear Electric and Scottish Nuclear have both achieved exceptionally high safety standards while at the same time considerably enhancing their commercial performance. Safety and performance are complementary; they are the hallmark of a quality company.

More importantly, there can be no compromise on safety as a result of privatisation because the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate will continue to regulate the same stations in the same way, to the same very high standards. It is worth noting that in their submissions to the Government's Nuclear Review, the NII and the Health and Safety Executive said they saw no need to change these arrangements.

Both NE and SNL have an absolute commitment to safety. We have done this by adopting the best management practices in both the safety and commercial fields. Performance indicators for safety staff are not driven by profit. Their prime targets are demonstrable enhancement of safety as measured by a series of performance indicators given in our published annual health and safety reports. By any objective standards this has proved successful - all our health and safety indicators (radiation dose to workers, incident statistics, etc) are far improved since both companies' formation in 1990.

Nuclear power will not survive if our stations are not operated to the highest levels of safety - but then our staff will not permit anything less.

Yours sincerely,

John G. Collier

Chairman

Nuclear Electric

Gloucester

18 October