Nuclear decommissioning costs rise

http://www.planningresource.co.uk/bulletins/Planning-Resource-Daily-Bulletin/News/780183/Nuclear-decommissioning-costs-soar/

The total cost of decommissioning the UK’s ageing nuclear power stations has risen "rapidly" in the past few years by £12 billion to £73 billion, the National Audit Office (NAO) warned today.
Its report said the industry faced "significant challenges" as costs were rising, even for the most imminent work.

The estimated £73 billion cost of decommissioning nuclear sites is 18 per cent higher than an estimate given in 2005.

The NAO said estimates of decommissioning costs must be interpreted with great caution and uncertainties will tend to be greater for more distant tasks.

Head of the NAO Sir John Bourn said: “While the scale of the task is now better defined, estimates of costs to the taxpayer have continued to rise.”

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority admitted the costs of the clean-up programme were expected to rise in the early years as it formed “a greater understanding and more realistic assessment of the task ahead”.

It said it was confident that it could stabilise and reduce the UK's nuclear liability.

Liberal Democrat shadow environment secretary Steve Webb said the soaring costs were “disturbing”.

“How much is it going to cost our children to clean up the mess left by the new generation of nuclear power stations being planned by this government?” he said.