BNFL, the nuclear company, faces a potential £300 million bill for cleaning up nuclear waste in America if the US reneges on a deal agreed with Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s chief of staff.
The government-owned company may be saddled with the £300 million cost of two decontamination contracts in Idaho and Tennessee.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) agreed to cover BNFL’s losses in March after the personal intervention of Mr Powell. BNFL claims the US did not reveal the full cost of decommissioning and decontaminating the sites when the contract was signed.
But doubts emerged last night over whether the DoE would go ahead with the deal after a report claimed the US Administration was backpedalling.
Spencer Abraham, the US Energy Secretary, and officials at the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are believed to be meeting in London over the next few weeks with a view to resolving the dispute.
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A spokesman for the nuclear company said: “Discussions are taking place with the DoE on a government to government basis regarding BNFL’s clean-up contracts in the US.As these are governmental discussions it is not appropriate for BNFL to comment further.”
BNFL signed two fixed contracts with the US in 1996. One, worth $912 million (£509 million), was to clean up the DoE’s National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Idaho, and the other, worth $238 million, was to decontaminate a uranium plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
But when the costs of the work ballooned, the nuclear company had made provision for losses of £51 million in 2001, £70 million in 2002 and £175 million in 2003. BNFL has argued that the DoE did not reveal the full extent of the nuclear contamination of the sites.
The DoE is now believed to be offering to pay only a fraction of the losses it agreed to cover in the spring after year-long negotiations. A DTI spokesman would not confirm or deny reports that BNFL faces a £300 million liability. The Government is BNFL’s sole shareholder and is liable for any losses it incurs.