SNP and UK Government in row over cost of nuclear dumping grounds
dailyrecord.co.ukA row has broken out between the SNP and the UK Government over how much Scotland will pay on radioactive waste.The SNP has claimed that Scotland could be saddled with a bill of over £22 billion as part of Westminster’s cleanup of nuclear dumping grounds.But the UK Government has said that the figure is actually much lower.Radioactive waste is an issue which is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.The SNP said UK Government statistics from November estimated total clean-up costs for sites which contained disposed nuclear material from weapons programmes and energy generation could come to £263bn over the next 100 years.The party said this would mean Scotland could be made to pay £22,618,000,000 in total as it contributes 8.6 per cent of the UK’s tax revenue.This would work out to £22,000,000 every year for a century.But the UK Government has dismissed these claims, saying that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's annual statement from last year put future costs at £124bn across the UK.It also said that calculating the amount that Scotland would pay by its tax share was wrong.Scotland has three nuclear power stations which are currently being decommissioned.
England and Wales have 14 sites.SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes said the money should be spent on public services.He said: “Westminster’s obsession with nuclear energy and weapons neither benefits nor helps ordinary Scots, and yet they’re expected to fork out tens of millions every year for a century to pay for the cleanup of radioactive materials.“While the Tories have lined up funding for the cleanup of material that shouldn’t have been used anyway, public services have been decimated, and a cost of living crisis that has seen energy bills go through the roof has
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