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E60BN nuclear aid plan: EC warned new probe is not enough


Responding to today's decision by the European Commission to begin a formal investigation into the UK transfer of EUR60bn/GBP42bn nuclear liabilities at fifteen locations belonging to BNFL plc to a new 'decommissioning' agency, Friends of the Earth Europe's Mark Johnston said:

"This type of ad hoc investigation by the Commission is not enough. It allows the European nuclear industry to continue cheating the market, selling power below cost, and then blackmailing taxpayers when old reactors are shutdown. It points to a systemic failure to govern energy markets in line with Europe's overall political goals.

"The EU needs a pro-active strategy towards nuclear liabilities based on new internal market laws. Nuclear firms must meet all their costs from their own revenue, not from our taxes. A failure to ensure this will mean that further nuclear subsidy cases in other member states are inevitable."


Contact: Mark Johnston +32 2 542 6101 or +44 79 7331 9249


Background to the new case

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) has describe itself as technically bankrupt since 2001, with total liabilities amounting to around €60bn/L42bn. Also in 2001, the UK government announced plans to set up 'a nuclear decommissioning authority' to take ownership and control of a total of 15 BNFL sites, plus four others belonging to UKAEA.

Seven out of eleven of BNFL’s power stations sites have already ceased generation but the remaining four are still operating, albeit at a loss. BNFL has, like many other European operators, failed to ensure that enough money has been set aside to pay for dismantling reactors. The average operating life of the BNFL fleet is 37 years.

BNFL also continues to operate two reprocessing plants at Sellafield, a fuel fabrication plant at Springfields, and may in addition operate a MOX-plutonium fuel plant Sellafield. These on-going operations, under the new ownership of the Decommissioning Authority, will also now be the subject of EC scrutiny.

European Commission statement:
http://www.europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1430&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

Relevant UK official sources:
http://www.dti.gov.uk/
http://www.bnfl.com/
http://www.nda.gov.uk/
http://www.ukaea.org.uk/

Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.