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Where are the nuclear industry's missing billions?
Commission told key report into ‘reactor pension funds' must not be dropped

(Brussels, 8 September 2004) Friends of the Earth has called on the European Commission to complete without any further delay a key investigation into long-term decommissioning and waste management funding in the European nuclear industry.

The study into adequacy and use of so-called ‘reactor pension funds' was first promised more than two years ago and was due to be published earlier this year. But Friends of the Earth now fears it may be postponed indefinitely, in order to avoid awkward questions about potentially huge deficits in nuclear firms in at least several European territories.

Nuclear liabilities are the costs of decommissioning nuclear reactors and managing radioactive waste after a power plant has stopped generating electricity. These activities, which typically extended over a period of 50-100 years or more, ought to be funded by cash reserves built-up from income during the operating life of the plant.

However, circumstances vary widely across Europe, leading to distortions in competition and an increasing amount of state subsidies to the nuclear sector when firms get into difficulty. Such market abuse is to the disadvantage of alternative energy options, such as renewables and energy efficiency.

The UK for example is currently seeking EC approval to give €6 billion in aid to British Energy plc over the next 80 years and a further unspecified amount to BNFL plc. A number of other countries are also considering similar plans.

Currently there are 140 nuclear plants operating at 64 locations in 13 states by around 18 companies. Total combined long-term liabilities amount to many hundreds of billions of euro.

Under the EC treaty, the European Commission has a duty to keep state aid, which includes state guarantees, under ‘constant surveillance'. But it has so far provided no evidence that it has actually done so or what it may have found.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Mark Johnston said:

“Nuclear power is cheating the European energy market big time. Whilst the European Commission has a legal duty to stop this, it has so far failed to do so. It's promised study of reactor pension funds must be completed without delay, and it should not hesitate to introduce legislation where the evidence shows it is needed. The single energy market cannot be taken seriously unless the nuclear cheats are brought under control.”

Contact:

Mark Johnston +4479 7331 9249

Notes:

Friends of the Earth's letter to the Commission is available on request. The letter was submitted jointly with Greenpeace International.

The Commission's commitments to publish a report on Decommissioning Liabilities was first made in March 2002, and repeated in July 2003.

 

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.