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Nuclear power station cleanup cost soars

LONDON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- The cost of cleaning up the sites of Britain's aging nuclear power stations could be more than $121 billion, up from an earlier estimate of $96 billion.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, set up last April to supervise state-owned nuclear plants, says it is "almost certain" the earlier estimate will need to be revised upward to adjust for revision and to account for additional costs resulting from a closer look at some of the older nuclear sites, reports the Independent newspaper.

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Additionally, the previous estimate itself was only to clean up the former state-run civil nuclear program, the report said. It did not include the weapons establishment at Aldermaston, run by the Defense Ministry or the privately owned nuclear plants.

A major decision facing the government is whether to order the building of a new generation of nuclear power stations, as the last of the old state-owned plants goes out of action, says the report.

Supporters say nuclear power will provide a domestic source of energy that does not emit carbon dioxide. But opponents say new stations are extremely cost prohibitive.

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