BNFL under attack over Westinghouse sale

BNFL has announced the sale of its US-based subsidiary Westinghouse, the nuclear power station construction and services business.

While the sale is likely to raise around £1bn for the taxpayer, it has been criticised by some in the industry over its timing, amid claims that it will deprive the UK of expertise at a time when public opinion is shifting towards nuclear power and other countries are considering building new nuclear stations.

The union Prospect, representing 6,000 engineers, scientists and managers at Sellafield and the company’s 21 other sites, warned that a break-up of BNFL would be disadvantageous for the UK nuclear industry, setting it back years and many billions of pounds. Prospect’s assistant general secretary Dai Hudd claimed that the timing was ‘bizarre’ — just as nuclear power was rising up the agenda to answer carbon emission problems, the UK decided to sell off its ‘chief reservoir of new-build expertise.’