Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have overturned an important part of last month's controversial High Court ruling that the Government had lawfully given the Sellafield Mixed Oxide (MOX) plant the green light. (1) But the MOX plant can still open, despite the fact that it will never recover its costs and that it represents a serious threat to public safety.
The Court of Appeal's decision means that in future, before any new nuclear project can go ahead, the construction and other capital costs will have to be taken into account when deciding if the practice is economically beneficial (2). The Court of Appeal ruled that it was only on the basis that no other MOX plants will be built in this country that the Government was entitled to ignore the £70 million already spent on the MOX plant.
The Court of Appeal said that Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth had succeeded in overturning an error of the law. Because of this and because of the very great public health interest, the court made the exceptional decision to refuse to award costs to the Government or to BNFL.
Less than an hour after the Court of Appeal hearing ended last week, Patricia Hewitt announced in Parliament that MOX was to be transferred to a new "Liabilities Management Authority", the future guardian of the unprofitable and unsaleable parts of Britain's nuclear industry. (3) Greenpeace and FOE will be calling on the Government to rethink its decision to let MOX go ahead.
The MOX facility, which is intended to make nuclear reactor fuel out of plutonium and uranium for export around the world, will increase the risk of terrorists seizing nuclear material and increase the risk of Sellafield itself being targeted by terrorists. Plutonium is one of the most dangerous materials in the world. As little as 4kg is required to make a nuclear bomb. Far less is required to make a 'dirty bomb' - conventional explosive added to plutonium so it causes widespread contamination on detonation.
Charles Secrett, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth said, "We're pleased that the Appeal Court has overturned the worst features of the High Court judgement. But we're angry that this pointless, dangerous and uneconomic MOX plant is still on course to open. Nobody wants MOX and nobody needs it. It will simply encourage nuclear proliferation, increase nuclear pollution and threaten public safety. It's not too late for the Government to see sense over MOX, and change its mind."
Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK said, "The Government argued in court that the MOX plant made economic sense and then promptly declared the plant a liability. They can't have it both ways. The Government has no common-sense justification for opening a plant that will only serve to spread plutonium around the world and increase the danger of nuclear terrorism"
Notes to editors:
- In the High Court hearing, Mr Justice Collins held that the Government's decision to give British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. the go-ahead for the manufacture of MOX at Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) was not unlawful under European law. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace had made the case that the Government had wrongly disregarded the £70 million it cost to build the plant when deciding that the plant was economically justified under EU law.
- The Government and BNFL argued that capital costs should normally be taken into account but should be ignored if they had already been incurred. In a controversial judgment, Mr Justice Collins had ruled that the costs of setting up a new nuclear plant should never be weighed in the balance of economic costs and benefits when deciding whether a nuclear practice is economically justified.
- Although the Court of Appeal today ruled that the Government's decision to authorise the manufacture of MOX fuel at Sellafield was not unlawful, the Court held that Mr Justice Collins had been wrong to decide that capital costs (including construction costs) should never be taken into account when deciding whether a practice giving rise to radiation was economically justified. In a judgment, with which Lord Justices Waller and Dyson agreed, Lord Justice Simon Brown held that the environmental groups had rightly argued that "the capital costs inherent in a new type of practice ... are indeed a cost of the practice and relevant, therefore, when evaluating the overall economic benefit (or detriment) likely to result from adopting the practice."
- Nonetheless, the three Court of Appeal judges held that, as SMP was likely to be the only MOX plant built in this country, there was no requirement for the Government to take into account the costs of construction that had already been incurred (the 'sunk costs'), when deciding if the practice of MOX manufacture generally was justified.
- Within half an hour of the court hearing ending, Patricia Hewitt last week announced to the House of Commons the creation of a new Liabilities Management Authority (LMA) to take control of the UK's civil nuclear liabilities and associated assets. The LMA, rather than BNFL, will now be responsible for the Government's interest in the management of public sector civil nuclear liabilities. In particular, the LMA will take on responsibility for the whole Sellafield site including Sellafield MOX Plant.
- The reason for the restructuring was said by the DTI to be that BNFL's long-term liabilities now exceed its assets. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace say that this means that BNFL is effectively bankrupt. The new information could not be put before the High Court before its judgement. Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace will be writing to the Secretary of State for the Environment demanding that the decision to give MOX the go-ahead on the grounds of economic viability should be urgently reconsidered.
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255 or
Friends Of the Earth press office on 020 7566 1649
