Hopes of achieving a partial privatisation of BNFL appear to have evaporated with the news that the long term liabilities of the state-owned company could be as high as $54 billion. The revised total – up $14 billion from $40 billion already acknowledged – is expected to be disclosed in BNFL’s annual accounts later this summer and relate to new estimates of the cost of cleaning up the Sellafield reprocessing site.
The company, which currently appears unable to avoid criticism, has also faced flak over a recent South African venture with Eskom, the state utility. An investment estimated at some $16 million in a pebble bed modular reactor project has provoked a negative reaction from observers, who suggest that both American and German attempts to develop the technology have failed and that, even if successful, the market for a new nuclear technology from South Africa would be limited. BNFL responded to the criticism by suggesting that the simple modular design and advances in gas turbine technology that make the system far more efficient have made such reactors commercially viable. In addition, BNFL say, this type of reactor has passive safety features that do not require human intervention. The system uses helium, heated with the reactor, to directly power a gas turbine.
In other news, BNFL announced it does not intend to reopen its Hinkley Point A Magnox nuclear power station after its recent closure for repairs. The company also laid-out the timetable for closure of its other seven Magnox stations, which currently provide eight per cent of Britain’s electricity. The last to close, Wylfa, could continue until 2021, it said.
UK officials have begun talks in Japan over what to do with the MOX fuel rods delivered to the Takahama reactor that were found to have false data associated with them. A top level delegation from the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry is expected to present a number of options for the fuel later in the summer.
