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Government Nuclear Waste U-turn?

25 Oct 1999

The Government is planning a major policy U-turn on nuclear waste to make partial privatisation of BNFL easier, Friends of the Earth warned today, ahead of the Government's initial response to the House of Lords report on nuclear waste management, expected at 3.30 PM this afternoon. Friends of the Earth has learnt that the Government will recommend consultation on BNFL plans to keep overseas nuclear waste in Britain indefinitely even though this would be contrary to existing Government policy.

BNFL's reprocessing contracts for its controversial THORP plant state that all the waste products of reprocessing should be returned to the country of origin. However, to cut the huge cost to its customers of returning all wastes, BNFL has proposed that the bulky low and intermediate level nuclear waste should be retained for disposal in the UK. Government acceptance of this plan is central to BNFL's attempts to get more business for THORP and to its desire to be privatised. Existing Government policy explicitly rules out BNFL's substitution plans unless the wastes can be disposed of in an operating nuclear waste dump - long term above ground storage of overseas nuclear wastes would not be acceptable.

BNFL's attempt to get more business for THORP have been in disarray since the last Government rejected as unsafe plans for a nuclear waste dump deep underneath Sellafield. Since then BNFL lobbyists have been engaged in a desperate attempt to change Government policy and BNFL has told its customers that this attempt would be successful. Critically for BNFL, the House of Lords report supported a call from the House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee for the Government to change Government policy or risk undermining BNFL's reprocessing business.

Dr Patrick Green, Senior Nuclear Campaigner at Friends of the Earth said;

“The so-called green credentials of this Government have taken another nose dive, it is absolutely appalling that this Government is prepared to risk turning the UK into the permanent nuclear waste dump for BNFL's overseas customers just so that it can make privatisation of BNFL easier.”