"The Energy Act 2004 wrote off a bill of £56 billion to clear up the mess we already had then.

 

This is roughly five percent of our gross domestic product, a cost of £933 for every man, woman and child in the country."

 

The cost of clearing up so far!

 

The Energy Act 2004 wrote off a bill of £56 billion to clear up the mess we already had then.

 

This is roughly five percent of our gross domestic product, a cost of £933 for every man, woman and child in the country.

 

This money will cover only cleaning up – decommissioning and making safe – not long term disposal of radioactive waste.

 

The bill has now risen to £72 billion. In order to help pay for this the government is planning to sell off nuclear assets to the private sector – including stockpiled uranium and atomic fuel manufacturing plants.

 

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has a £300 m budget overrun for 2006 -7 alone, and is attempting to raise cash to help pay for a £72 billion clean up bill. Bids will come from German and French energy companies.

 

The cost of new nuclear power plants

 

John Hutton, secretary of state for business, dropped a commitment to maintain at least a 29.9% stake in British energy. He said he wants to accelerate the timetable of bringing new plants on stream in 2018. “Interest [from foreign companies] in building new nuclear power stations in the UK is strong” he said.