Archived press release

Bnfl/westinghouse deal - commons statement demanded

24 June 1998

Friends of the Earth, Britain's most influential green pressure group, is demanding an urgent Commons statement on the proposed British Nuclear Fuels' (BNFL) takeover of US nuclear conglomerate Westinghouse. Treasury ministers are reported to be “studying the proposal” which would involve BNFL taking on about £890 million of liabilities. The Department of Trade and Industry is thought to have already approved the deal.

FOE is demanding that the Government veto the deal unless binding commitments can be given that:

. Government money - including financial guarantees on future liabilities - will not be used to fund the deal
. BNFL will not use the deal to increase the amount of spent nuclear fuel and other fissile material being imported to Sellafield for storage, treatment or reprocessing

FOE warns that:

1. Authoritative research by Sussex Universities' Science Policy Research Unit in its major report Managing UK Nuclear Liabilities,See footnote 11 part funded by Friends of the Earth,shows that BNFL already has liabilities of £ 2.4 billion for which no funds have been set aside. FOE believes these liabilities could rise to £4.3 billion. In addition, BNFL's merger with Magnox Electricity means that it has inherited Magnox Liabilities of£18.5 billion, of which £13 billion is not funded. Again, if past industry trends continue, these liabilities could rise to £ 34.3 billion, of which £ 28.8 billion is not funded. Therefore BNFL could present the taxpayer with a bill of at least £15.4 billion to meet its existing liabilities, and the final figure could rise to £33.1 billion. Westinghouse's nuclear businesses will add a further £ .89 billion of liabilities to the bill. (All figures undiscounted.)

2. The Westinghouse deal will involve BNFL in nuclear decommissioning work in the US. But BNFL has previously said that decommissioning “requires” reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. FOE believes that the Westinghouse deal could be used to expand the workload of the Sellafield THORP plant, increasing the amount of highly radioactive nuclear waste stored in the UK. The level of nuclear waste

stored at Sellafield is already set to rise dramatically because of BNFL's existing foreign reprocessing contracts.

In 1994 (the year that THORP began operating) there were 40,000 tonnes of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) in store at Sellafield. Current Government estimates are that the level of ILW in the UK (about 80% at Sellafield) will rise to 136,000 cubic metres in 2010. Figures provided by BNFL to the Government's Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee show that this amount would rise to 256,000 cubic metres if BNFL succeeds in getting new contracts and reprocesses all overseas spent fuel identified in the 1996/7 Business Plan for the THORP plant.1000 cubic metres of High Level Waste (HLW) is stored in 21 cooled tanks at Sellafield. The NII has urged British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), which runs Sellafield, to solidify the waste into glass blocks for permanent storage (“vitrification”). But the vitrification suffers from what the UK Atomic Energy Authority calls “continued poor performance”. Crucibles for melting the glass have lasted for less than half their predicted life, because of corrosion and fatigue.

3. FOE has seen evidence presented to the US Presidency's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology - the key US Government body making decisions about the nuclear industry - from top US nuclear scientists, that the world's nuclear materials should be concentrated at a small number of sites, including Sellafield (also Yucca Mountain in the US, and a site each in East Asia and Eastern Europe).

Commenting FOE nuclear campaigner Dr Dominic Jenkins said:

“We need an urgent Commons statement to clarify Government thinking on this deal. No one could object to British companies helping others to deal with the toxic legacy of the world's failed civil nuclear industry. But there can be no justification for using the deal to expand unnecessary and uneconomic reprocessing at Sellafield,and still less for doing it with yet more taxpayers' money. If the Government and BNFL cannot give the guarantees we demand, the deal should be firmly vetoed.”

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