Reports in the UK’s Guardian newspaper allege that British Energy (BE) has been paid and will continue to be paid a government subsidy of £185 million ($333 million) annually until 2086.
According to the paper, long-standing reprocessing contracts with state-owned BNFL are subsidised by the government as reprocessing fuel is uneconomic for the privately-owned BE. The group has no commercial use for reprocessed uranium and plutonium and therefore has to pay BNFL to store the materials.
The government, the paper claims, paid the cash to BE this March for spent fuel liabilities and is expected to have to spend around the same amount annually for the duration of the contract terms.
“The European Commission is aware that this money will go from British Energy to BNFL to pay for reprocessing contracts, and has approved it,” a spokeswoman is quoted as saying.