Critics of the United Kingdom nuclear program point out that while the huge costs overruns of already expensive nuclear projects continue to be funded, important government programs such as healthcare and social welfare programs are underfunded and facing further cuts.
One example that is often cited is a new Evaporator at the Sellafield nuclear site in West Cumbria. The purpose of the Evaporator is to allow a reduction in volume of high level radioactive waste from nuclear fuel reprocessing by evaporating water in the waste. In 2007, the estimated cost of the new Evaporator was one hundred and twelve million dollars and it was supposed to go into service by 2011. As of September of 2015, the estimated cost had risen to nine hundred and twenty million dollars with completion by 2018. The new Evaporator is urgently needed at the Sellafield site because the three operational Evaporators there are becoming more and more unreliable as they age and wear out.
Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) was hired by the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in 2008 to oversee the Sellafield site. The National Audit Office (NAO) was highly critical of NDA and NMP in their management of Sellafield and NMP was eventually fired. The NAO reported that one of the contributing factors in the huge cost overruns was the incompetence of some of the subcontractors hired to do the actual work.
The Evaporator was too big to be built entirely on site so it was constructed offsite in modules and shipped to Sellafield for final assembly. This unorthodox method of construction contributed to delays and cost overruns. In addition, because of the delays, it turns out that it will only be used for a year for the purpose it was originally intended for.
Another target for the critics of the U.K. nuclear program is the Moorside nuclear power plant that is being constructed near Sellafield. NuGen, the developer for the new power plant intends to build three AP1000 nuclear reactors at the plant. Sixty percent of the project is owned by Japan's Toshiba and forty percent is owned by France's Engie. The funding model currently being applied to the project calls for private investment to pay for the plant while the U.K. government will guarantee a set price for electricity generated by the plant for thirty five years.
Toshiba and Engie are having problems finding the funds to carry out the project. NuGen is now asking the U.K. government to consider providing funding for "non-nuclear" parts of the project. NuGen is claiming that the seawater cooling system for the reactors is somehow "non-nuclear" and therefore should qualify for government support which is denied to nuclear projects.
In addition to these two examples of problems funding nuclear projects in the U.K. that might result in a heavy burden for U.K. taxpayers, there are now calls for the U.K. government to spend large sums on improving the transportation and power grid infrastructure in West Cumbria in the area around Sellafield and Moorside.
Needless to say, the public in West Cumbria which has seen reduced public services such as hospitals is not enthusiastic about spending taxes to building new roads and improve the grid to benefit the foreign owned nuclear power plant being constructed at Moorside.
