BRITISH Energy鈥檚 decision not to build any new nuclear power plants will kill off the country鈥檚 nuclear expertise, two Labour MPs warned last week. This raises questions about how competent Britain will be when the time comes to decommission reactors, say Ken Purchase and Martin O鈥橬eill, both members of the House of Commons Select Committee on Trade and Industry.
鈥淏y 2037, there will be generations of nuclear scientists with no experience of putting a power station together. Their job of taking it apart will be difficult,鈥� says Purchase. 鈥淭here are dangers in it.鈥�
And without the nuclear industry鈥檚 main intellectual attraction 鈥� designing new plants 鈥� young people will no longer be enticed into the field, says O鈥橬eill.
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