£20bn nuclear waste scheme to be funded through taxes

Controversial plans to bankroll a nuclear waste disposal programme through taxes, at a possible cost £20bn, have been unveiled by the government.

Environment secretary David Miliband told the Commons that the debate over financing the operation would be ‘difficult and complex’.

Government figures estimate the project will cost in the region of £10bn-£20bn, but doubts were raised by opposition members over speculations of an alternative funding scheme. 

Planners of this alternative scheme rested their hopes on private operators building new nuclear reactors in the near future and contributing to the project’s biggest costs, which centre on disposal and the construction of bunker 1km underground.

The eventual disposal programme will be overseen by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which also owns nuclear facilities, a fact that has led shadow environment minister Peter Ainsworth to voice concerns regarding a possible conflict of interest.

The NDA defended the government's tax-funded scheme, believing the costs would span the lifetime of the project and the bill would be paid over more than 100 years.

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