 |
| A view of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site near Seascale in Cumbria, England.(Reuters / David Moir) |
The
cost of decommissioning Britain’s nuclear sites, and particularly the
Sellafield complex, has increased by billions of pounds with both regulators
and the government being accused of incompetence by anti-nuclear campaigners
and union leaders.
The
estimated cost of decommissioning the UK’s nuclear legacy over the next century
has rocketed from £63.8 billion (US$104.1 billion) two years ago to £69.8
billion (US$113.9 billion) by Sunday, with even more increases predicted in the
coming years, reports The Independent on Sunday.
Most
of the cost increases are down to the troubled Sellafield facility in Cumbria,
which is one of the world’s most contaminated nuclear sites, and, due to its
cramped area, it’s also one of the most difficult to clean up.
Despite
being accused of chronic mismanagement, Nuclear Management Partners (NMP), a
private sector consortium led by the Californian engineering giant, the URS
Corporation, was awarded another five-year extension to run decommissioning at
Sellafield by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
NMP
had been accused of numerous delays and cost overruns at Sellafield, including
the construction of a storage facility for radioactive sludge.
Following
a series of letters from the head of the NDA, John Clark, demanding “improved
performance,” NMP’s chairman Tom Zarges was forced to apologize for his team’s
performance since it took over the site in 2009. A National Audit Office report
in 2012 also warned that there has been “historic neglect” in the
decommissioning project at Sellafield.
Now
anti-nuclear campaigners and union leaders are up in arms about anther increase
in costs, which was highlighted in a report by the Office for Budget
Responsibility.
 |
A man walks along a road near the Sellafield
nuclear reprocessing site near Seascale in Cumbria, England.(Reuters / David
Moir)
|
The
GMB Union’s national secretary for energy Garry Smith said “the blame lies at
the door of the government.”
“Is
this a genuine increase in costs? Or is this an issue with the private
contractor? This again raises questions over why the Secretary of State for
Energy approved renewal of NMP’s contract,” said Smith.
Chris
Leslie, a spokesman for the Labour Treasury, said that Tory infighting over
other issues, such as gay marriage and Europe, had contributed to the
mismanagement of public projects.
Leslie
said that a Treasury decision to cut the NDA’s budget after it took power in
2010 hurt its ability to oversee progress at Sellafield.
"This
is extraordinary waste, which ministers must explain. Not only have ministers
signed off huge rewards for failure, but delays in projects are pushing up
costs astronomically at a time when families are struggling to make ends meet.
"There
are now serious questions over the safety of some Sellafield sites and the
storage of waste, but also [over] how government incompetence has allowed
billions to fall through the net," he told The Independent.
But
an NDA spokesman defended the figures, alluding to the massive scale of work
that needs to be carried out at Sellafield.
“This
figure is the long-term financial position for well over a century, it’s not
like the immediate costs have gone up. As we examine more and more of
Sellafield, we find more and more work to do,” they said.
Dr.
David Lowry, an independent nuclear research consultant, struck a more
conciliatory note saying that while management was “probably incompetent” it was
also “probably true” that NMP were finding more and more issues to deal with.
“That’s
the thing with nuclear, the price always goes up,” he told The Independent on
Sunday.
A spokesman for the
Department of Energy said that cost overruns are bound to be an issue in a
project of such complexity spanning over 120 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment