Jan 08 - Western Mail

The nuclear industry will have to pay its "full share" of the costs of dealing with radioactive waste, Downing Street said last night as it prepared to announce a new generation of nuclear power stations. Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton is expected to confirm plans for a new set of generators when he addresses MPs on Thursday, despite a possible legal challenge to the way the decision has been taken.

The decision is likely to prove highly divisive in Wales, with the Assembly Government and several Labour MPs opposed to new nuclear build. But the only operating Welsh nuclear site, Wylfa on Anglesey, is critical to the local economy and could be chosen as the site for a new generator.

Wylfa is due to be decommissioned in 2010, and the only other Welsh reactor, Trawsfynydd, near Dolgellau, closed in 1991. The Government has already said that any new nuclear stations are likely to be built on existing sites.

A Government-commissioned report released last year under the Freedom of Information Act suggested siting new sites in England to avoid clashes with the devolved administrations, even though the Assembly Government - unlike the Scottish Executive - has no power to block a nuclear power station.

Downing Street said any firms that came forward with a plan to build and operate a new nuclear site would have to pay the cost of storing radioactive waste.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said, "If the Government does decide that new nuclear stations should be an option, then owners and operators would have to set aside funds to cover the full cost of decommissioning.

"We have always been clear that the full share of the costs of the long-term management and disposal of waste should fall on the operators.

"We have always been clear that if the Government decides new nuclear should be an option, operators should set aside funds for their full share of the cost of the long-term management of waste and the full cost of decommissioning."

Dealing with nuclear waste remains one of the key problems Ministers admit need addressing before new stations can built. In the 1980s it was encased in concrete and steel and dumped in the Irish Sea, until international agreements ended the practice. More than 1,345 cubic metres of high-level waste is stored at Sellafield in Cumbria.

The Cabinet meets today to sign off the decision, although it is unclear whether Wylfa or Trawsfynydd has made it on to the final list of preferred sites. Opposition to the policy is likely to be more muted than the last time it was discussed in Cabinet in July 2006. Peter Hain and Margaret Beckett were among the high-profile sceptics 18 months ago, but Ms Beckett is now on the backbenches and Mr Hain has said the question of "keeping the lights on" has to be addressed - but still favours a massive expansion of renewable energy.

Although the Assembly Government is against new nuclear build, other organisations, including Wales TUC, are in favour.

Gordon Brown said the decision was "a fundamental precondition of preparing Britain for the new world", with the country needing to prepare for a time when North Sea oil dwindles.

But Friends of the Earth policy director Roger Higman said, "Britain can meet its energy needs, maintain energy security and tackle climate change through a comprehensive programme of renewables, energy efficiency and cleaner carbon technology.

"We should invest in a safe, clean and sustainable future, rather than trying to breathe fresh life into the discredited dinosaur of nuclear power. The Government's public consultation was a sham. "Nuclear power is not the answer to tackling climate change. It is expensive and leaves a legacy of deadly nuclear waste that remains dangerous for tens of thousands of years." Greenpeace is considering a further legal challenge to the consultation process, having forced a rerun once already.

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