UK to keep foreign nuclear waste
December 15, 2004
The Government has decided to bury Japanese, German, Italian, Spanish, Swiss and Swedish nuclear waste in Britain as a money-making venture to help pay for the UK's own unresolved nuclear waste problems.
The decision, announced in a written Commons statement, has been taken by the trade secretary Patricia Hewitt despite the fact that Britain as yet has no depository for the waste. It overturns a 30-year-old policy that the UK would not become a dumping ground for other countries' nuclear waste.
Previously both Conservative and Labour governments have said waste arising as a result of lucrative nuclear fuel reprocessing contracts at Sellafield in Cumbria should be returned to the country of origin.
Successive governments had intended to return all highly dangerous waste contaminated with plutonium to its country of origin - a total of 225 nuclear shipments. This week's decision means keeping and disposing of the bulk of that toxic waste in Britain.
Mrs Hewitt said: "The benefits are both environmental and economic."
She said the additional income - up to £680m - would be "used for nuclear clean-up which will result in savings for the UK taxpayer over the longer term".
Environmental groups warn that it will leave Britain with thousands of tonnes of waste for which there is currently no form of disposal.
Jean McSorley, nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace, said: "The Government is trying to encourage Japanese utilities, and others, to sign more reprocessing contracts at Sellafield knowing that they will not have to have their nuclear waste returned."
The Guardian website has further information.
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