Nuclear power in Europe

Bidders interested in buying the Government's share in the uranium company Urenco have contacted its former chairman about forming a consortium to table an offer for the stake which could be worth up to £4bn.

Neville Chamberlain, who was chairman of Urenco from 2002 to 2005, said: "I have had discussions with various potential bidders." He added: "I would not be surprised if a bid emerged."
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It has been revealed that it will take more than 100 years before the toxic nuclear site in Sellafield is safe.

A report from Westminster's Public Accounts Committee says the UK's largest atomic power station will not be completely clean until 2120.

The South Down SDLP MP, Eddie McGrady, described the nuclear waste as a time bomb waiting to happen. 'They are not only producing but importing the dirty stuff from the rest of the world, it is incredible,' he said.

The Thorp nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield has restarted commercial operations three years after it was closed following a radioactive leak - a development that should ease the funding crisis at the government's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant, or Thorp, at the nuclear complex in west Cumbria, is a large source of income for the owner NDA, which is responsible for cleaning up the UK's nuclear reactor sites and dealing with radioactive waste.

The Times, January 31, 2008
The man responsible for raising £8.3 billion for the Treasury by selling off some of the country's most controversial assets is poised to receive a bonus of £766,200 for successfully winding up British Nuclear Fuels.
Mike Parker, chief executive of BNFL, which used to own Westinghouse, the nuclear reactor maker, as well as Sellafield, could receive the bonus before the end of the financial year, The Times has learnt.