Sellafield clean-up bill soars to €73bn

The cost of decommissioning and cleaning up the nuclear site at Sellafield has risen £5bn (€6.9bn) to £53bn (€73bn), a new report shows.

The National Audit Office said between 2010 to 2011 and 2013 to 2014 the nuclear provision for the site in Cumbria increased by more than £15bn, mainly from higher estimates of the cost of work required to complete decommissioning and clean up.

Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Despite my committee’s calls in February 2014 for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to make big improvements, the cost of cleaning up the nuclear waste at Sellafield continues to soar and has risen by an astonishing £5bn to £53bn in February 2015, from £48bn on March 31, 2014.