Now it's suggesting we market them to the public. Officials seem blissfully optimistic about BNFL's prospects. BNFL points out that its British parent company, British Nuclear Fuels Limited, is the only company in the world that has ever decontaminated a plant like the one at Oak Ridge. And a senior executive from a competing firm says that BNFL made the government an offer it couldn't refuse. The executive, who requested anonymity, says that not only did BNFL offer a very competitive price, but the firm agreed to a fixed price contract, which other contractors considered far too risky.
Environmentalists see things differently.
Every day, the company discharges 9 million liters of radioactive waste into the Irish Sea. As recently as September,1999 British Nuclear Fuels Limited admitted that its employees had falsified safety checks on fuel rods that it shipped to Japan. We did discharge effluents into the Irish Sea at levels we probably shouldn't have. The fact is, he says, they're bombarded by radiation every time they go out under the sun. Campbell declined to comment on the lack of an environmental impact statement, other than to say that it was DOE's responsibility, and that if one were required now the delay would probably force BNFL to cancel the contract.