Angry Overseas customers for THORP’s Baseload, highly critical of the plant’s poor performance and that of the Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP) have slammed the company for being unresponsive to their concerns, unwilling to help resolve them and close to breaching terms of the contracts.
The leaked minutes of secret meetings held between customers and BNFL in September 2000 and March this year at Heathrow show contempt for BNFL’s inability to meet the challenges of reprocessing compared to its French rivals COGEMA, and that customers remain unconvinced that BNFL is fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. The chairman of the September meeting is minuted as saying that “if BNFL’s under-performance continues …. there could be a complete loss of confidence in all aspects of BNFL’s services “.
With criticisms centred on Sellafield’s under-performance and on the punitive and unjustified hike in prices for services that are not being delivered as per contract, customers are determined that, if the situation continues, they will either halt further deliveries of fuel to Sellafield and use other more economical waste management routes instead; take legal action against the company; or insist on new terms being agreed for THORP’s Baseload contracts.
CORE said today “ We’ve studied these documents for weeks now and it is crystal clear that BNFL and operations at Sellafield are on the verge of being ditched by every single overseas customer. It is a disgrace that this discredited company and its lackies publicly proclaim a return of customer confidence – in an attempt to get SMP open, yet behind the scenes customers are furious. What now the security of the new MOX business from Germany and Sweden ?
The second secret meeting just a few weeks ago shows the dissatisfaction of customers on a wide range of issues including decommissioning, waste returns, SMP, the costs of storage of High Level Wastes and Vitrification, and the unfair burden of financial risk being forced on the customers by BNFL through cost-plus contracts. Chaired by auditors Price Waterhouse Coopers, the meeting is highly critical of BNFL Chief Executive Norman Askew’s about-turn on promises of ‘a new openess and desire to work together, and of the company’s return to their old ways of being unresponsive and unwilling to help.
Following the national newspaper coverage given over the weekend to the secret meetings, BNFL has responded by pointing to the robustness of the contracts which are backed by international Government agreements. CORE points out “ This response exposes once and for all the sham of the contracts. Customers would love to get out of them, but bully-boy BNFL has got them over a barrel and intends to keep them there. There’s clearly no hint of customer love for reprocessing in BNFL’s statement. However, whichever course of action customers decide to take now, BNFL and Sellafield are going to come off second best “.
For further information contact CORE on 01229 833851 or mobile 0789 999 1146.