12th June 2007

The Green party has expressed concern over news of an inexperienced company taking over running Oldbury - 2 weeks ago the nuclear plant had a fire after one of the reactors was restarted after 2 years despite warnings from Greens and others that the plant should not restart. The reactor core is said to be the most defective of it's kind in the world. Latest news: Oldbury to restart

An American company, EnergySolutions, with no experience as a nuclear power generator has been chosen by the government to take over several Magnox atomic plants from BNFL. EnergySolutions, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is well known for its work in nuclear decommissioning, but admits that it has not had sole responsibility for sites that generate atomic energy.

Cllr Philip Booth, a Stroud District Green party spokesperson and District councillor said: "Oldbury's defective reactor core has been described as the most corroded reactor of its kind in the world. Now we hear that a company that admits it has never had responsibility for sites that generate nuclear energy is to take it over. I have to say this is a worrying development. Only 2 weeks ago there was a fire at Oldbury when one of the two reactors was restarted after a 2 year closure due to problems. Greens and others warned the 39 year old reactor should not have been restarted - we should decommission Oldbury now rather than restart it to limp on to it's closure date next year. The risks are not worth taking."

More background information from The Guardian

The main role of EnergySolutions will be to decommission the vast bulk of the nuclear plants coming under its control. But the contracts to run the different sites for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will be put out to tender when they come up for renewal in the next couple of years. The sale of the Magnox sites is the second major sale by BNFL. The first was the disposal of its Westinghouse design and engineering subsidiary to Toshiba of Japan.

The sale of the 10 Magnox sites is the latest in the sell-off of the various sections of BNFL, formerly British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Westinghouse has been sold to Toshiba while the British Nuclear Group America business went, like Magnox, to EnergySolutions of the US. The biggest remaining part of BNFL is British Nuclear Group Sellafield, which manages the reprocessing site in Cumbria. That management contract will go out to tender in the middle of next year, which is later than planned. BNFL is expected to be wound up alongside the Sellafield contract in 2008.