British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), the owner and operator of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, is emerging as the front runner to operate an £80 million British government aid package to improve nuclear safety in former Soviet Union states.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, announced the three-year plan earlier this week to tackle nuclear safety issues such as decommissioning nuclear weapons, improving the operational safety of nuclear plants and improving nuclear safety cultures.
It is possible that some of the money will be used to improve safety on nuclear submarines following the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea earlier this month.
A decision on who will carry out the work has not been made but sources have indicated that BNFL is "the most obvious candidate" to win the contract. It is understood, however, that part of the reason for the British government's delay in announcing which company will work with the former Soviet Union states is due to concerns over BNFL's safety record at Sellafield.
Last month the UK's Health and Safety Executive said it would be prosecuting BNFL over its failure to improve safety management structures at the plant.
The Foreign Office yesterday confirmed that discussions would continue over the next few weeks to decide which company would operate the aid programme. It is not clear, however, whether only British nuclear companies are involved in the discussions, or whether foreign companies have been approached.
It is also possible that the £80 million aid package will form part of an international effort to improve nuclear safety in the former Soviet Union states, where it is estimated that 1,350 tonnes of weapons-grade nuclear material, spread between more than 50 sites, has been stockpiled.
But the environmental group Greenpeace, which has called for the closure of the Sellafield plant, expressed concern that BNFL could be involved in sustaining the production of nuclear material in the former Soviet states. Ms Bridget Woodman said the group had "reservations" about BNFL carrying out the safety programme, which she said should be operated "in the most environmentally safe way possible, not in a cheap way and not in a politically convenient way, and that they [BNFL] should not get engaged in prolonging the life of any nuclear stations".
She added: "We have campaigned against reprocessing and the discharges dumped into the Irish Sea by BNFL, but if it wants to operate in the future it should move into waste management and decommissioning." BNFL refused to speculate on whether it believed it would manage the aid package. A spokeswoman told The Irish Times: "As this is UK government money it is not for us to speculate on how the money should be spent."
BNFL pointed out that it had already established links with Russia to improve nuclear safety since the break-up of the Soviet Union. BNFL personnel have participated in studies to quantify discharges of radioactive liquids from the Mayak nuclear facility near Ekaterinburg in Siberia into the nearby Lake Karachay. And in partnership with Tecnicatome of France, BNFL recently won a contract to improve understanding of how nuclear submarine reactors can be dismantled safely at the Russian navy's submarine training facility at Paldiski, Estonia.
BNFL is also developing guidelines for the management of radioactive waste at the Leningrad nuclear power station.