Clean-up costs for Sellafield nuclear waste site reaches £67.5bn

BBC News – 04/02/13

A report released by the Public Accounts Committee says that the cost of cleaning up the nuclear waste site Sellafield has reached £67.5bn. According to the report, there is no indication as to when the costs of decommissioning the site will stop rising, and suggests that the blame for these costs lies with the successive governments whom have underestimated the vast quantities of nuclear wasted stored at the Cumbria site.

The Cumbria County Council rejected proposals last week for a new underground nuclear waste storage facility. Chairwomen of the committee, Margaret Hodge MP, has said that as a result of the Cumbria County Council rejection of the West Cumbria site proposal, the issue regarding the long-term storage of waste is as far away from being solved as ever. The CEO of the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency (NDA), John Clarke, has claimed that before the government set up the NDA in 2005, no credible plan for Sellafield existed. According to Clarke, the responsibility and tough decisions about decommissioning the site were ignored, and left for future generations. However, the NDA is now facing the Sellafield site challenges. Read More