3. Status of nuclear in current member states

 

3.1 Belgium (November 14, 2003)

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
7	5,760	-	-	44.74	57

 

Belgium has a comprehensive nuclear program which, in addition to its seven reactors has well-developed fuel cycle facilities, including fuel fabrication - in particular MOX fuel- and a large research facility.

The country's power sector is dominated by Electrabel, which was formed in 1990 from the merger of three utilities. In 1995 Electrabel combined forces with the public company Societe Cooperative de Production d'Electricité (SPE) to form a new company Societe pour la Coordination de La Production et due Transport d'Electricité (CPTE), which controls 96% of the generation capacity.

The Belgium power program is also unusual in the small age range of its nuclear fleet. All of the reactors became operational within a ten-year period. This has already created problems about the simultaneous ageing of the power plants, the converging of part replacement schedules and the timing of the phase out of the power plants - and will continue to do in the future. Furthermore, the replacement of the steam generators in a number of the reactors has increased the capacity of the power plants by around 10%.

Since the completion of the last power plant in 1985 successive Governments have acted to limit the role of nuclear power in the country. In 1988 the Government cancelled the construction of a fifth reactor at the Doel nuclear power plant. This was followed in February 1992 by government confirmation of an indefinite moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants in the country. In 1999 a new Government was elected which for the first time contained the Green party as part of the ruling coalition. Within a few months it announced that the opera-ting lives of the reactors would be limited to 40 years. The Government and Parliament adopted the proposal and it will lead to the phase out of nuclear power in Belgium between 2015-25. In 2003 a new Government was elected, without the Green partners of the old administration. However, to date there appears no indication that the current administration will overturn the phase-out law.

The spent nuclear fuel produced by the country's power stations has been sent to the Cogema's La Hague reprocessing plant in France. However, in 1993 the Government decided that the reprocessing of nuclear fuel and direct disposal should be given equal weight. As a result of this decision the post 2000 contracts, signed in 1991, were suspended in December 1993. Despite this cancellation and its own use of plutonium in MOX fuel, Belgium has built up a significant surplus of plutonium. Current estimates suggest that this is around 40 tonnes.

Research into the disposal of high level radioactive waste is currently underway at the Mol facility, with investigations, jointly with France, Germany and Spain, into the suitability of clay. Spent nuclear fuel is currently stored in facilities on the sites of the nuclear power plants.

 

3.2 Finland Contents | Top

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
4	2,656	-	-	21.44	30

 

Finland is the only country in the European Union that has plans to construct a new nuclear power reactor. The Government and Parliament have given their approval for the proposal and if ordered and built the reactor would be the fifth in Finland. The other four are located at two sites, Loviisa (where there are two VVER 440-213 reactors) and Olkiluoto (where there are two BWR reactors).

The Loviisa reactors are currently the only Russian designed reactors in operation within the European Union and were supplied by the Soviet firm Atomenergoexport, who continue to supply nuclear fuel. Finland stopped sending its fuel to Russia in 1996, soon after Finland joined the European Union. In 1998 the company Fortum was created by the merger of the Government utility - which owned Loviisa (IVO) - and the oil and gas company Neste. Fortum is majority owned by the Finnish Government, with the remaining shares owned by Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) -the owner of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plants.

In January 2002 the Finish Cabinet agreed, by 10 to 6, to put a decision to construct the country's 5^th reactor before Parliament. In May the Parliament approved the proposal by 107-92, as result the Green Party left the Government. TVO is currently reviewing bids for four reactor designs and is expected to chosen one by the end of 2003.

TVO claims that the decision to move ahead with the nuclear application will help Finland meet, along with renewable energy, their Kyoto commitments and ensure that there is sufficient domestic production capacity to bring stable and predictable electricity prices. Somewhat surprisingly, TVO also claim that nuclear power's low production costs - and in particular low fuel costs - make it suitable for the open Nordic electricity market. This claim goes against the Swedish experience, where the drop in the Nordic electricity price has resulted in the electricity price falling below production costs of the nuclear power plants. As has been discussed previously, nuclear power plants are very susceptible to decreases in electricity prices given their large upfront costs.

Following the 1996 decision of the Government to stop sending spent fuel to Russia all used fuel is now stored at the nuclear power plants. In 2001 the Parliament endorsed the selection of the Olkiluoto site for the development of the country's high level waste, subject to approval by the national regulator. Investigations are currently ongoing and under optimistic scenarios the facility will be operational by 2020.

 

3.3 France Contents | Top

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
59	63,073	-	-	415.50	78

 

France's nuclear program began in the 1950s, initially in the form of military projects and then via the building of reactors for civilian use. The first reactor to be built expressly to produce electricity was started in 1952 at the Marcoule facility. During the 1960s Electricité de France (EdF), the Government run utility, took over operations and began ordering a new design of reactors: the PWR. In the 1970s, France embarked on a massive nuclear power program of PWRs. All of the reactors in this series were built by Framatome, under a license agreement from Westinghouse adapted to the French context, at the end of the 1970s. This included:

• 1970: six reactors were ordered (two for Fessenheim and four for Bugey).
   
• 1974: after the 1973 oil crisis, sixteen 900 MW reactors were ordered.
   
• 1975: 4 orders for 1300 MW PWR reactors.
   
• 1976: 12 additional 900 MW reactors were ordered.
   
• 1976: launch of fast breeder program Superphénix-1 (1200 MW).

 

In the 1980s, the PWR program continued. The problems encountered in the development of fast breeder reactors led the authorities to abandon the launch of Superphénix-2.

• 1979-1983: orders for 16 new 1300 MW reactors.
   
• 1984: orders for two new even more powerful PWRs (series N4, 1450 MW) at Chooz.

 

In 1998, one of the major symbols of the French nuclear program and the reasoning behind France's massive reprocessing industry, the Superphenix, was finally abandoned. According to the ‘Cour des Comptes’ [Government Accounting Office] Superphenix cost € 9 billion by the time EdF finished paying interest at the end of 2000. In addition significant running costs (€ 130 million per year) are being spent to preserve the facility including the expense of heating sodium in order to keep it in a liquid form. The smaller research reactor, the Phenix, however, continues to operate and is used for research into the use of plutonium fuels.

At present, EdF operates all of the 58 PWRs that were built (although 12 include foreign electricity companies among their minority shareholders - these shares may rise as EdF complies with the EU Electricity Market Directive and increases competition in the French electricity market). Today, France has the second largest installed nuclear capacity in the world (second to the USA) and EdF is the largest producer of nuclear generated electricity. This nuclear power over-capacity allows EdF to export electricity massively to its European neighbours (114 TWh in 2002 - 27% of total production).

Framatome ANP have for a number of years been developing their next generation of reactor, the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR). In November 2000, under pressure from the Green coalition partners, the French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin announced that now was not the right time to decide whether or not to order an EPR. This postponement was said to be the cause of a 20% reduction in the workforce at the Framatome ANP headquarters in Paris.

In early 2003 the Government announced a wide-ranging public and political debate on energy policy. However, some Non-Government Organisations specialising in energy policy development have boycotted the formal process due to concerns over the procedures and pre-ordained decision on new nuclear power. The Parliament is scheduled to debate the issue later in 2003 and Industry Minister Nicole Fontaine has said the decision on the EPR has to be taken in the spring of 2004.

France's nuclear industry has induced a very high level of vertical integration in the fuel cycle. Although natural uranium is now no longer extracted in France, all of the other stages in the cycle are carried out on French territory: from conversion to reprocessing and manufacturing plutonium-based fuel. Clearly, France originally developed this option of the later stages of the cycle for its military needs, then for its fast breeder program. Since the abandonment of that program, a part of the separated plutonium has been re-used in the form of MOX (Mixed Oxides) fuel in PWRs. France has a number of operating reprocessing plants since 1966, 1994 and 1989 respectively. France also operates two MOX fuel manufacturing plants (mixed uranium and plutonium oxides from reprocessing): the ATPu facility at Cadarache and the MELOX facility at Marcoule. Cadarache was closed in July 2003 but will re-open for the fabrication of US MOX test fuel.

These reprocessing and MOX plants have been, or are still, operated for both French and foreign clients (Australia, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland). France, via COGEMA, now occupies a central position internationally in the increasingly controversial plutonium industry.

Spent fuel is sent to La Hague for either reprocessing or for storage. Under the Nuclear Waste Law (also known as the 'Bataille Law') of 1991 three different research routes for the disposal of high level waste are to be investigated. The results of this comparison, between indefinite storage, deep geological disposal and transmutation and partitioning are expected in 2006.

 

3.4 Germany Contents | Top

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
19	21,283	-	-	162.25	30

 

There are currently 19 reactors in operation: 13 PWRs and 6 BWRs. The German nuclear industry has tried a number of other designs all of which have largely failed or been abandoned. These include:

VVERs: The re-unification of Germany resulted in the closure of all Soviet-designed reactors, the five VVER 440s at Greifswald (four 230 designs and one 213 reactor), and the non-completion of the partially built VVER 440-213 and VVER 1000 reactors at Greifswald and Stendal respectively. The VVER 440-230 reactors were closed soon after unification. No decision was immediately taken on the VVER 440-213 and VVER 1000 reactors, but the German Safety Agency, the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS), made detailed assessments. These assessments outlined the redesign and backfitting work necessary for the project to be awarded an operating licence in Germany. Following this technical assessment expected costs were calculated and the reactors were offered to Western German utilities, however, the offer was not taken up and the projects subsequently abandoned. Their closure was and has been seen as a benchmark for the safety of the VVER reactors as the standards used in the assessments measured not only the viability of such reactors operating in Germany, but also by implication the whole of the European Union.

The High Temperature reactor (HTR) was developed at the research facility in Jülich in 1969.The Thorium-HTR in Hamm Uentrop operated only between 1985 and 1987. The project costs have risen from an initial estimate of e 341 million to more than € 2 billion, with construction time rising from an estimated 61 months to an actual 164 months. Technical problems, especially with the fuel pebbles, lead to frequent shutdowns so that the project was abandoned.

The Fast Breeder was intended as the product of a trilateral co-operation between West Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. A syndicate of Interatom, Belgonucleaire and Neratom started to build the SNR-300 prototype in Kalkar in the early 70s. Although almost completed the last license needed for operation was never given for technical, economical and political reasons. On March 21 in 1991 the Fast Breeder project was finally terminated. The estimated project cost rose to € 3,5 billion.

The nuclear industry has also abandoned a series of fuel cycle facilities. The three most significant are:

Wackersdorf Reprocessing Plant was abandoned in 1989. The total project cost was estimated to have been around € 5.1 billion, of which € 2 billion was thought to have been invested and thus wasted when the project was abandoned.

Hanau MOX Facility, which was abandoned in the early 1990s after a long legal battle with the Hessen regional Government.

Morsleben Waste Disposal facility. The operation of the waste disposal site in former Eastern Germany was stopped by a court ruling in 1998 and in May 2001, final agreement was reached to abandon and begin decommissioning the Low and Intermediate waste disposal facility. By this time 35, 000 cubic meters of waste had been placed in the facility.

In September 1998, a new Government was elected comprising a coalition of the Social Democrats and the Green Party. The coalition promised a nuclear phase-out in Germany and proposed to negotiate with the national energy suppliers to shut down all remaining nuclear reactors within 20 years. In June 2001, the government and four main utilities finally signed a phase-out plan, the main points of which are:

• A fixed quantity of electricity can be produced in each reactor. This equates to an operating life of around 32 years, although "the operating life" of a reactor can be transferred between reactors.
   
• A ban on the construction of nuclear power plants.
   
• A ban on shipment of commercial nuclear fuel to reprocessing plants after July 2005.

 

As part of the agreement RWE, the operators of Mühlheim-Kärlich, announced that they would not restart the reactor. Furthermore the Stade reactor will be the first plant to be closed in 2003, with the others following over the next 20 years or so.

In the summer of 1998 it was revealed that in a number of cases the outside of the casks used to transport spent nuclear fuel were contaminated. This resulted in the suspension of all waste export from Germany. This was only resumed in 2001 after extensive analysis and compromise. Furthermore, the French Government refused to take any more spent nuclear fuel until some of the high level waste (HLW) accumulating at the La Hague plant was taken back to Germany. In March 2001, a third shipment of HLW was sent to the Gorleben interim storage facility. Like the first shipment there was massive protest which, despite the deployment of 30 000 police, managed to delay the waste for 24 hours. Following the HLW shipment, spent nuclear fuel was once again sent to France and the UK.

The ban on the shipment of spent fuel for reprocessing from 2005 has meant the construction of on site storage, however, this is an interim measure and a centralised store is likely, to accommodate both spent fuel and returned vitrified waste. In the longer term the Government is scheduled to have a high level waste repository in operation by 2030.

 

3.5 Netherlands Contents | Top

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
1	450	-	-	3.69	4.0

 

The Dutch energy market is rapidly heading for full liberalisation. In the electricity sector full liberalisation is envisaged in 2004. The country has only ever had two nuclear power plants, Dodewaard and Borssele.

Dodewaard started operation in 1969 and was a 56 MW Boiling Water Reactor. In 1992, it was envisaged that the plant would close in 1995 due to the lack of an adequate safety report and inadequate public consultation. After a revised consultation process and further discussions with plant operators and designers, the reactor was given a temporary operational license. However, it was finally closed in 1997 for economic reasons, despite the fact that € 41 million had been invested in safety upgrades that were partially completed when the decision for closure was taken.

Borssele started commercial operation in October 1973. In November 1994 the Parliament decided that the reactor should close by 2004, by a slim margin of 77-73 votes. An opinion poll conducted at the time also showed that 80% of the Dutch population was opposed to nuclear power. The Government was left with two choices: the plant should either close immediately (because safety measures were outdated) or the plant undertakes a retrofitting program in 1997. The retrofitting program would cost € 215 million and the plant would need to be open until 2007 to repay the investment. Because of the decision by parliament, a compromise was made between the nuclear power plant and the government: modernise the plant but close it before January 2004. The part of the investment that had not repaid itself by 2003 would be paid by the government (€ 32 million). In 2000 the Borssele plant began to deny that the agreement made was legally binding in the new situation with a much more liberalised market. As a result the government started a court case in the summer of 2001. The court ruled in September 2002 that the government did indeed fail to fulfil all obligations when the decision for closure was taken and that the NPP could run as long as the license was valid. As there is no end-date mentioned in the license it was a quite confusing court rule. After several elections the current three-party coalition government decided that the reactor would be closed in 2013. The utility itself immediately announced it does not feel any legally binding commitment to this closure date and states that the reactor can run maybe up till 2040. (A life-time of 70 years…)

Both Dutch utilities operating nuclear power plants have reprocessing programmes for their spent fuel. The Dodewaard fuel has been sent to Sellafield in the UK. Starting in the 1970s, the operator of the Borssele reactor signed three reprocessing contracts with the French company COGEMA. These contracts cover the period 1970-2003. The extension of the reactors operating life has lead to consideration of further reprocessing contracts.

All returned vitrified waste and spent nuclear fuel from the research reactors will be (starting early 2004) stored at the HABOG facility in Borssele. This is built for the coming 100 years. There is no policy yet for long term storage.

 

3.6 Spain Contents | Top

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
9	7,574	-	-	60.28	26

 

Spain's nuclear program began under the Franco regime and the first law on nuclear power was established in 1964. Construction on the country's first nuclear power plant began in 1965 at Zorita.

A decision by the high level Ministerial Council in October 1983 resulted in the halving of the original nuclear generation program from 10,535 MW to 5,725 MW. Then in May 1991 energy minister Claudio Aranzadi announced that no new nuclear plants would be commissioned before 2000. A new electricity planning law passed by the Spanish Parliament (Cortes) in 1995 led to the definitive cancellation of the five nuclear plants whose construction had been frozen by the Socialist government in the 1984 moratorium.

In November 1998 Environment Minister Isabel Tocino presented a plan to Parliament to combat climate change. It was endorsed by Spain's National Climate Council in December 1998, and called for an extension of the operational lives of the existing nuclear plants. There is currently no fixed operating life for the reactors, rather the regulator grants renewals of the operating license. Initially these renewals are every two years, but can be extended for five or even nine years. In 2002 the country's finance ministry published a report which recommended that no new reactors should be ordered until at least 2010, furthermore, the country's first reactor is now scheduled for closure in 2007.

The only reactor to have closed is Vandellos 1, which was the site on 19 October 1989 of Spain's worst accident involving nuclear power. A fire broke out in the turbine room resulting in the operating license being suspended pending the outcome of an inquiry. When the results were published in the following spring, the regulator called for 15 significant changes to the plant. The Industry Ministry declared that the implementation of these measures would have to be paid for by the owner of Vandellos and not the taxpayer. The owner decided against this investment and in May 1990 the industry minister announced the permanent closure of the reactor.

There are a large number of owners of nuclear power plants, with ten separate companies having at least part ownership in one reactor. The Government in Spain is moving ahead with the liberalisation of the country's power sector, and requiring must faster and broad reaching change than that required by the EU's 1996 electricity market Directive.

Some spent fuel is reprocessed at the La Hague facility in France and at Sellafield in the UK. Vitrified high-level waste is expected to start being sent back in 2010. All remaining spent fuel is either stored in spent fuel ponds or in dry cask storage facilities at the nuclear power plants. No decision on the long term strategy for high level waste disposal options is expected before 2010.

 

3.7 Sweden Contents | Top

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
11	9,432	-	-	65.57	46

 

The country's first nuclear power station Oskarshamn 1 was ordered in 1965 and began commercial operation in 1972. It was the first Light Water Reactor (LWR) to be built in Europe not under license from a US vendor. Over the next fourteen years eleven more reactors were constructed and began operating. Barsebäck-1 was closed in 1998.

Following the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, there was a referendum on nuclear power in 1980. This resulted in a proposal to only operate the reactors as long as their operating life - at that time it was assumed to be 25 years. Parliament adopted the results of the referendum, banned the construction of any more nuclear power plants and assumed a complete phase-out would occur by 2010. Following the referendum insufficient planning was undertaken and few steps were put in place to begin the phase-out. In 1995, a Government sponsored report concluded that a phase-out of nuclear power by 2010 would be economically and environmentally unfavourable.

In March 1997 the Government proposed legislation, which was ratified in June 1997, to close Barsebäck1, by July 1998, with the second unit to close three years later. Sydkraft failed in an appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn the decision, but was allowed to operate the reactor until November 1998. As compensation the state-owned Vattenfall transferred an interest in the Ringhals plant to Sydkraft. The twin unit Barsebäck-2 will continue operation under a new joint production company: Ringhals-Barsebäck, in which Sydkraft will have a 25.8% share (though Barsebäck-2 contributes only 14.5% of the capacity). If a decision is taken to close the reactor, Sydkraft will receive an increased share of the Ringhals plant. The closure date of Barsebäck-2 is unclear; a complete energy policy review will now take place in 2004. More recently, a three party agreement was reached with mandated that the continued phase-out of nuclear power would be conducted on the basis of voluntary agreements with industry, similar to the German phase out law.

Reprocessing of spent fuel is no longer considered a viable option and consequently all spent fuel is stored centrally at the CLAB facility at Oskarshamn. The country's waste management organisation is currently undertaking site investigations on two possible deep disposal sites, with approval of the local municipalities and Government.

 

3.8 United Kingdom Contents | Top

 

Operating Reactors		Reactors Under Construction		Electricity Produced in 2002 (TWh)	% of Total Electricity Produced
Number	Installed Capacity (MW)	Number	Installed Capacity (MW)
27	11,652	-	-	81.08	22

 

There are three reactor designs operating in the UK - Magnoxes and Advanced Gas Cooled reactors, both graphite moderated and carbon dioxide cooled, and one PWR at Sizewell in Suffolk. There are no further reactors planned or under construction in the UK. The oldest reactors, the Magnox reactors, are now closing. Bradwell closed in March 2002, and the earlier closer of Calder Hall - March 2003 - and Chaple Cross - march 2005, was announced in May 2002. The closure of all remaining Magnox reactors is envisaged by 2009.

The decision to abandon new construction followed a failed attempt to privatise the nuclear power industry along with the rest of the electricity supply industry in 1990. The AGR reactors and Sizewell B were finally privatised in 1996 under the ownership of British Energy, although ownership of the Magnox reactors was transferred to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), and remains in public hands.

The most controversial part of the UK's nuclear industry is undoubtedly BNFL, the owner of the Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria. The controversy surrounding the company has largely centered on its environmental record and performance, although broader safety, economic and proliferation issues have also caused concern. Most recently, concern has focused on the discovery that BNFL had falsified safety data on MOX fuel rods made for export to Japan. A subsequent inspection of the Sellafield site found that safety levels were 'only just tolerable'. The company received Government consent to open a new MOX fabrication facility, the Sellafield MOX plant in October 2001. In May 2002, the German utility E.on signed contracts for the production of MOX.

BNFL is wholly owned by the UK Government, with the Department of Trade and Industry holding all but one share in the company. The Treasury owns the remaining share. Despite this, BNFL is meant to function as an independent Public Limited Company.

BNFL also has reprocessing contracts for its THORP plant at Sellafield with a number of other countries, including Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Canada. The contracts include the return of the separated plutonium to the country of origin, although the extent of the return of other nuclear wastes created by reprocessing remains undecided. In addition, Magnox fuel from the exported Italian and Japanese reactors has been reprocessed.

British Energy owns and operates eight nuclear power stations in the UK, totalling nearly 10.2 GW of nuclear capacity. This fleet contains 14 Advanced Gas Reactors (AGRs), built between 1976 and 1989 and one Pressurised Water Reactor, at Sizewell completed in 1995. In addition in the UK, BE operates a 2 GW coal station at Eggborough and is investing in the construction of a 50 MW offshore wind farm. BE is also active internationally, having invested in nuclear power plants in Canada and the United States.

BE has serious economic problems. This has been exacerbated by, but not caused by the low price of traded electricity as a result of the introduction of a new electricity trading regime (NETA). The wholesale price of electricity has fallen by approximately 40% over the last few years. As BE is a public company the impact of lower profits and fears on the future of the company has had a direct result on the share value. At their low point in September 2002, BE shares were worth 3.5p each, at there high point, in 1999, they were worth over 744 p. At the time of the privatisation in 1996, the company was sold for 1.3 billion British pound (€ 2.1 billion) and in the following years its value, along with the share price, rose until it was worth around 4.6 billion British pound (€ 7.6 billion).

In order to avoid the bankruptcy of the company the British Government made available a e 1 billion loan to British energy in later 2002. Then a restructuring package was proposed which saw the Government giving direct aid for waste management activities. In total it is expected that this will cost the British taxpayer around € 5 billion. Consequently, the European Commission in July 2003 announced that it would begin an investigation into the proposed restructuring package, this may take up to a year.

The industry would like to build deep dumps for much of their low and intermediate wastes. Following the rejection of their application to build the first phase of such a dump in 1997, there are no proposals about where this should be done, or when. Similarly, there are no plans to site or build a dump for High Level Waste in the UK. However the UK government has launched a public consultation process on nuclear waste management which will continue until 2007. This process does not assume, like previous consultations, that nuclear waste will be buried underground.

In July 2002, the UK Government announced plans to establish a Liabilities Management Authority (LMA), which will be responsible to government with a specific remit to manage the storage and disposal of radioactive waste. The establishment of the LMA is thought to be a necessary step in the route to the partial privatisation of BNFL. If established the LMA will take on responsibility for 48 billion British pounds (€ 80 billion) of radioactive wastes from BNFL, British Energy and military sources.