MPs call for rise in funding for nuclear plants' clean-up

Published on Sunday 6 April 2008 21:58

PUBLIC funding will have to rise significantly if the clean-up of nuclear plants is to be carried out as planned, MPs have warned.

A report today from the House of Commons' business and enterprise committee questions the existing method of funding the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). It calls for work on a new system to begin urgently.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which has spent 40 per cent of its expenditure limit on the NDA, has asked for an extra 400 million to be made available to the authority, which oversees the dismantling of plants such as Dounreay in Caithness.

The authority is funded by a combination of commercial income and government grants.

But the committee says uncertainty over its commercial income means cuts could cause difficulties and it wants assurances the NDA's needs do not affect other area's of the business department's work.

Peter Luff, the committee chairman, said: "We believe nuclear decommissioning is too important to be left to the mercy of changing priorities in the Treasury."