[NukeNet] FW: Cost of nuclear clean-up soars - UK

[Kathy Burns]

FYI - Kathy

Kathleen Burns, Ph.D.
Sciencecorps
Lexington, Massachusetts


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Cost of nuclear clean-up soars	(23 August 2006 00:00)

The cost of cleaning up the UK's nuclear industry is set to soar beyond the current £70bn estimate, House of Commons select
committee report warned last week. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmtrdind/1028/1028.pdf   The Trade and
Industry Committee is also worried that the position of the UK as number one in the field could be undermined because the United
Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority's future depends on it winning decommissioning deals in the face of fierce international
competition.

The committee says that the final costs of decommissioning are "still unclear", after noting that estimated prices are shooting up
year-on-year.
Costs have rocketed from £48bn four years ago, to £56bn in 2004 and £70.2bn this year. The report warns that the present estimate is
likely to be "significantly" less than the actual costs because of further investigative work at Sellafield and Dounreay and because
"the industry appears reluctant to continue reprocessing spent fuel while it is more expensive than buying new stocks of uranium".

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority was given a series of assets to fund its clean-up work - including the ageing Magnox rectors
and the
"trouble prone" Thorp and Mox fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield.However, the committee remains worried that the plants will not
generate enough cash.

[Contract Journal, 23 August 2006, p 4]
http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/2006/08/23/51953/Cost+of+nuclear+clean-up+soars.html

Mick Holder - Advice Worker     mick at lhc.org.uk
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