The cost of nuclear clean-up operations is to rise further amid increased problems at Sellafield, Britain’s main reprocessing site.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) yesterday confirmed that resources would be shifted from other clean-up operations to Sellafield and Dounreay to combat high-hazard waste more effectively, as reported in The Times last month.

However, the NDA has angered unions by not detailing how much would be diverted and what the consequences would be for jobs at the defunct Magnox reactors, including Sizewell A, Dungeness A and Hinkley Point A. Yesterday the NDA opened a three-month consultation on its business plan for the next three years.

The NDA was unable able to say what the costs of cleaning up Britain’s nuclear power stations would reach, but last month it raised its estimate by more than 12 per cent to £72.7 billion. Yesterday the NDA said: “Although we expect cost estimates to rise further before they stabilise, a central part of our mission is to deliver year-on-year cost savings through driving efficiency and improved performance through competition.” It said its cost estimates had risen with its improved understanding of its operations.

The NDA was created more than two years ago to oversee the nuclear clean-up programme as the Government prepared the ground for the break-up and sale of nuclear industry still in state ownership.

Mike Graham, national officer for Prospect, the trade union, said: “The NDA’s strategy is in tatters. This revised business plan reflects heavily on the problems, but does not provide any solutions for the way forward. It strongly promotes the idea of diverting monies from Magnox decommissioning sites to Sellafield high-hazard reduction, but does not deal with the consequences of such actions.”

Ian Roxburgh, the NDA’s chief executive, said: “In line with our strategy, our priority is hazard reduction and we will be focused on the sites that require most work. This means the majority of funds over the next three years will be focused on Sellafield and Dounreay.

“It is increasingly clear that due to operational difficulties at Sellafield, the timescales for defuelling the Magnox stations will need to be reassessed.”

Some of the waste stored at Sellafield, which was formerly called Wind-scale, has been there since the 1940s when it was produced as part of Britain’s nuclear research programme. A spokesman said yesterday that the NDA was still not sure what exactly is in some of the storage ponds and silos.

The NDA is to build replacement storage facilities at Sellafield because it says that the current indoor and outdoor ponds and silos are too old.

The clean-up authority’s budget for the next three years is £8.5 billion, an increase of £671 million on the previous three years’ allocation. However, the NDA would only detail the next financial year’s allocation because it said that spending beyond that would depend on the final outcome of its draft business plan. The plan is out to consultation until the end of January.

The NDA’s budget has been badly hit by the closure of the Thorp reprocessing centre at Sellafield. Thorp, which reprocesses fuel from British Energy and overseas commercial customers, has been out of action for nearly two years. It is now undertaking limited work in preparation for a full start-up next year.

Unions fear that hundreds of jobs could be lost when clean-up work at the Magnox stations is suspended. They also complain that this will lead to a loss of skills in the industry.

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