Oct 26 - Evening Standard; London (UK)

Fears are rising over the spiralling cost of the nuclear clean- up after the agency in charge of decommissioning the defunct fleet of Magnox power stations admitted to funding problems.

Estimates for cleaning up the dead power stations over coming decades has risen recently to Pounds 73 billion.

Now the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency (NDA) is understood to have halted work on the 1950s and 1960s power stations that have been taken offline. It is understood that Magnox stations in the South are specifically affected, some of them alongside the present generation of nuclear plants.

They include Sizewell A, Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A, Bradwell and Berkeley.

It is believed the halt is to be signalled in the latest business plan of the NDA, which appears to indicate that resources should be centred in the North at Sellafield.

The news comes amid fears that the private sector may be unwilling to commit to the clean-up programme..

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