BRITAIN'S nuclear power industry is effectively bankrupt, according to report published at Westminster today by Green Euro MPs.
The report - 'Examination of BNFL Reports and Accounts' - commissioned by Irish MEP Nuala Ahern and written by nuclear analyst Mike Sadnicki, claims the taxpayer faces a clean-up bill of more than £40bn to meet a shortfall in money earmarked for decommissioning outdated nuclear reactors.
Published just two days after BNFL's Annual Report and Accounts revealed a $2bn loss last year, the Sadnicki report makes sobering reading for the industry.
Jean Lambert, Green MEP for London, told MPs at the launch: "This report reveals accounting practices that obscure what has happened to vast amounts of money.
"Essentially the Government has created a new Quango - the Liabilities Management Agency (LMA) - to shoulder the costs of decommissioning old and unsafe nuclear reactors. These costs, around $40bn, will no longer be regarded as liabilities of BNFL. This in turn makes the firm a much more attractive proposition for privatisation, and, on paper at least, increases the viability of BNFL receiving public loans to finance new nuclear power stations."
Mrs Lambert added: "In the light of the high profile collapses of energy
and telecoms giants Enron and WorldCom, it beggars belief that the Government
is involved in such a blatant attempt to cook the nuclear industry's books.
"The government has again followed the path of corporate social irresponsibility by trying to pass our debts on to future generations, sacrificing sustainability for the interests of the nuclear industry.
"If the nuclear industry did not benefit from massive public subsidies and dubious accounting practices it simply could not stand on its own two feet."
The report is published less than two weeks after a UK Government White Paper revealed that Britain's nuclear waste liabilities are £48 billion and rising (including £40.5bn for BNFL alone), and that the taxpayer will have to meet most of the cost of nuclear clean up.
Irish Green MEP Nuala Ahern, who commissioned the report, said: "Sadnicki's report has drawn attention to accounting practices that obscure what has happened to vast amounts of money. It states the money that should be in the bank to offset clean up liabilities has been used to make BNFL look as though it is making a profit".
ENDS
For more information contact Ben Duncan on 020 7407 6280 or 0776 997 0691
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