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Bnfl : one bar beyond the last chance saloon
30 March 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.
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Jul 2008
