Archived press release

Government challenged over secret nuclear plans

3 May 2001

Friends of the Earth today challenged the Government to 'come clean' on secret plans by state-owned British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) to build new nuclear power stations in the UK. The environmental pressure group believes that BNFL intends to develop a new generation of MOX-fuelled reactors but is keeping quiet until after the general election.

Last December BNFL's Chairman, Hugh Collum, claimed that “we have the designs for the reactors we need” and “we also have the sites on which to put these reactors”[1]. The sites most likely to be selected are those currently used by the older 'Magnox' power stations including those in Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Gloucestershire and Somerset [2].

Last month, BNFL asked Ministers for permission to operate the new, but so far unopened,Sellafield MOX 'Plutonium Fuel' Plant (SMP). The company suggested that it could be used to make fuel rods out of Britain's own 60 tonne plutonium stockpile [3], but hasn't said who would use them. SMP only has limited contracts with foreign customers capable of using MOX fuel. And British Energy, the privatised nuclear generator which owns the only UK reactor that could possibly take MOX, has refused, saying that there is no commercial or operational case for doing so.

In a letter to Energy Minister Peter Hain [4], Friends of the Earth says that the public has a right to know what is in BNFL's new five year 'Corporate Plan' before the General Election. BNFL and the Government have been discussing the new plan for at least a year.

Friends of the Earth's Nuclear Campaigner, Mark Johnston, said:
“Ministers must come clean over any plans to build new nuclear power stations before the general election. BNFL is publicly owned and the public has a right to know what it is planning to do.

“BNFL's reprocessing at Sellafield, Cumbria is creating huge stockpiles of domestic and foreign plutonium. This is economic and environmental folly.Reprocessing must be halted and the wholly uneconomic MOX fuel programme abandoned. BNFL's future lies in minimising the risks to future generations by clearing up and managing the radioactive legacy it has created.”

Friends of the Earth's Green Cross Code Campaign in the run-up to the General Election is calling on all Parliamentary candidates to pledge a doubling of the UK's current target for renewable energy and to rule out building any new nuclear power stations. [5]

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] BNIF/BNES Conference in London on December 6, 2000, archived at www.bnfl.com.

[2] There are first generation 'Magnox' reactors at eleven sites around Britain:

Bradwell (Essex) Hunterston (Ayrshire)
Berkeley (Gloucestershire) Oldbury (Gloucestershire)
Calder Hall (Cumbria) Sizewell (Suffolk)
Chapel Cross (Dumfries & Galloway) Trawsfynydd (Gwynedd)
Dungeness (Kent) Wylfa (Anglesey)
Hinkley Point (Somerset)

[3] BNFL's 2001 MOX Market Review was released by DETR on 28 March 2001 (available at www.bnfl.com “Facts” section). Paragraph 6.7 (p10) refers to using SMP for UK plutonium stocks, and this is reiterated in the company's press release of the same date. BNFL is asking for a licence to operate the MOX plant despite a lack of foreign customers. A new UK market for MOX would reduce the financial losses SMP would otherwise make. Such a move would also begin to deal with the hugely embarrassing and growing stockpile of over sixty tonnes of domestic plutonium that has been separated from spent nuclear fuel at Sellafield.Nearly all of the UK's plutonium is stored at the Sellafield site in powdered oxide form. This stockpile is expected to rise to more than 100 tonnes by 2010 due continued reprocessing by BNFL. Plutonium is one of the most dangerous elements on Earth with a radioactive half life of 24,000 years. Originally produced in order to make nuclear weapons, it has no economic use. Using plutonium as MOX fuel is an expensive and wholly uncommercial attempt by the nuclear industry to 'sweep under the carpet' an embarrassing problem and to give the nuclear industry a 'life line' to its long held dream of fast breeder reactors.

[4] The text of the letter to Energy Minister Peter Hain MP is attached/below. The Government told Parliament in July 2000 (HC848, Response to Trade & Industry Committee's 9th Report 99/00) that “[in] the context of considering and developing the BNFL Corporate Plan, the Government and its advisers will be testing BNFL's assumptions about markets and the competitive environment.”

[5] More information about FOE's Green Cross Code Pledges is available on the Campaign Hotline 020 7566 1663 or from the FOE web-site www.foe.co.uk where voters can email all the candidates in their constituency. FOE believes the UK's current target for renewable energy does not face up to climate change and is calling for it to be doubled to 20% of all electricity generation by 2010.

[6] In March 2000, the Government postponed indefinitely plans to partially privatise BNFL after the MOX data falsification scandal. The incident triggered a worldwide drop in confidence in the company and will require the return shipment of MOX fuel from Japan. The incident contributed heavily to record losses by the company reported September 2000.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust