Converting existing reprocessing contracts to dry storage - a way out for BNFL

BNFL often claims that reprocessing must continue because contracts between them and their customers (the nuclear utilities) are legally binding. In addition, because large quantities of spent nuclear fuel have already been sent to Sellafield, and money has been paid up-front for this spent fuel to be reprocessed, it is sometimes argued that reprocessing this fuel is a commitment that cannot be broken.

It is true that if either an individual customer or a reprocessing company unilaterally broke a contract, there would be financial penalties to pay by whichever company broke the contract. In general these penalties are higher for older contracts and lower for newer ones (for example, the German post-2004 contracts with BNFL have much lower financial penalties attached if they are broken than the earlier ones do).