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Pounds 56bn Nuke Cleanup to Cost Us Pounds 1,000 Each

Posted on: Friday, 12 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

CLEANING up Britain's old nuclear plants will cost us pounds 56billion - almost pounds 1,000 each, it was revealed yesterday.

That has shot up from pounds 48billion - and the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency wants the cash paid over 25 years instead of 125.

The shock report comes as the Government considers building a new generation of nuclear stations.

Environmental groups including Friends of the Earth said it shows nuclear energy is "an expensive liability". Its chief Tony Juniper said: "It won't be the nuclear industry that will foot the bill, it will be taxpayers.

"It would be madness to increase our liabilities by building more nuclear power stations."

But the bill for the 20 sites could rise by as much as pounds 10billion if plutonium is reclassified as waste rather than an asset.

The NDA also wants the plants, which include Dounreay in Caithness, cleaned up in 25 years instead of 85. Sellafield in Cumbria will be decommissioned over 75 years not 100. Sir Anthony Cleaver, chairman of the NDA, said: "You don't have that long period where you have the problem of security and safety in the storage of that material on the site."

And skilled staff will still be around to finish the job. Jean McSorley of Greenpeace said it was "madness" to "push for cleaning up sites only to make way for new plants which will create even more waste for decades to come".

Lib Dem Andrew Stunell said: "Again the taxpayer is being asked to dig deep to pay for the unplanned and ill thought-out nuclear industries' clear-up work."

Voice of the Mirror: Page 6

bob.roberts@mirror.co.uk

Source: Daily Mirror

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