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30 Mar 2000
The claim comes as BNFL bosses appear before a committee of MPs [1] and during a period of unprecedented turmoil in the company's history.
BNFL's traditional markets will continue to shrink, even without the recent scandals leading to foreign clients dropping contracts. The Government, which has dropped plans to sell off BNFL, must ensure that the company takes the only viable route to survival. Otherwise,BNFL will face heavy job losses amongst the company's 20,000 workforce.
Energy Campaigner, Mark Johnston, of Friends of the Earth said:
“BNFL must change direction. It must end the uneconomic, dangerous
and stupid practice of reprocessing. Instead it must find business cleaning
up the toxic legacy of the nuclear industry, both in the UK and around
the world.
There are hundreds of contaminated nuclear sites, and a huge volume
of nuclear waste that must be kept safely for an enormous length of time.
BNFL,with their expertise in handling such dangerous materials, are well
placed to carry out this work. But the company must sort out its management
failures first,restore public confidence that workers will stick to safety
procedures, and win back the confidence of its overseas clients.
If the Government and BNFL continue to get this issue wrong, heavy
job losses are inevitable”.
[1] BNFL representative this morning appear before the House of Commons' Trade and Industry Select Committee, Room 15, 10.00am onwards.
[2] BNFL's US contracts alone are worth over 200 billion dollars.
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
