24th July 2007

A parliamentary report by the public accounts committee has attacked the government for putting the taxpayer at "significant risk" of having to shoulder future liabilities at the nuclear power group British Energy whose offices are in Barnwood.

Cllr Martin Whiteside, the Green party's Parliamentary candidate for Stroud said: "This is a particularly damning judgment at a time when BE are having serious problems at their ancient reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset and Hunterston in Scotland. Taxpayers have been left to underwrite this out-of-date, expensive and dangerous technology to the tune of an estimated whopping £5.3bn. Perhaps the taxpayer is being fleeced to make this penniless company seem more attractive for foreign investment in new nuclear power stations?"

Martin Whiteside continues: "We have seen the problems at Oldbury, now here is further evidence of financial waste in this industry and yet another argument against building more nuclear plants. The simple fact is that there is no reactor programme anywhere in the world which has operated without the taxpayer having to stick their hand in their pocket."

The report concluded: "British Energy now poses a significant risk to the taxpayer but the Department (of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) plays no formal role in approving the company's commercial strategy." The committee said the company had little incentive to reduce its liabilities. It urged the government to put pressure on British Energy to review its estimates of the cost of decommissioning its power plants at least every five years, as it was meant to do.
 
See more at Guardian 20th July 2007:
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2130581,00.html