Nuclear losses mushroom to £303m

[struggle4progress]

BRITISH Nuclear Fuels plunged deeper into the red last year as it failed to keep the lid on increased costs. BNFL, which produces electricity from its ageing fleet of Magnox power stations as well as cleaning up nuclear sites, reported underlying losses of £303m in the year to the end of March, some 16% worse than in the previous year.

Previous years' losses have run into the billions but only after taking into account exceptional clean-up and write-down charges.

Chief executive Michael Parker admitted the results were disappointing, with increased costs at its Sellafield plant and at its US nuclear engineering business Westinghouse as well as start-up costs of the delayed Mox plant.

Mox is reprocessed nuclear fuel to be reused in reactors but a falsification-of-data scandal relating to the Mox business as well as the group's continuing poor financial performance have forced the Government to shelve plans to part-privatise the company.
<snip>

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid79230?source=