Dounreay costs pass £1bn mark

Published on Tuesday 8 July 2008 00:45

THE cost of maintaining the Dounreay nuclear plant since 2000 has climbed above £1 billion.

Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, said the actual costs since then amounted to 1.145 billion and the bill last year was 137.5 million.

Mr Wicks told MPs there were no figures available before 2000 as the UK Atomic Energy Authority "did not record costs on a site basis and there are, therefore, no detailed figures on the historical cost of Dounreay".

In a Commons written answer he said the gross costs did not include income generated by the site.