Last updated at 09:51, Monday, 04 February 2013

• Related article: Sellafield clean up costs spiral to £67 billion, MPs warn
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Sellafield unions have called for closer scrutiny of the management of the site to check their performance justifies their salaries.

Their comments come on the day that MPs published a report highlighting that Sellafield clean-up costs have spiralled to £67.5 billion – and are likely to carry on rising.

The national secretary of Prospect, the largest union representing Sellafield workers, said the select committee was right to call on the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to demonstrate what value it is getting for payments to Nuclear Management Partners.

But it failed to acknowledge the positives NMP have brought to Sellafield, including technical knowledge and expertise gained from nuclear sites across the world.

He said: “We also believe that, given the complexity of the safe decommissioning of the site, no parent body organisation could have fully appreciated the scale of the challenges Sellafield presents until they were in post.

“However now is the time for closer scrutiny. NMP Ltd should not only be called to account but it should question whether the senior management team at the site are delivering the promised commitments. We need more evidence that the salaries paid to NMP senior directors match their actual performance within the company. Closer scrutiny would ensure that the public is actually paying for expertise that brings added value to the clean-up operation and not just bolsters NMP Ltd's reputation"

He added the workforce and unions remain committed to making Sellafield safer, more productive, and cost effective.

Unite national officer Kevin Coyne said: “Had this report been published a few days earlier it may have helped to focus minds on why it was so critical for Cumbria County Council to back proceeding with further studies into a long-term solution to Britain’s nuclear waste.

“Instead, we have continuing drift and delay and billions being spent with no permanent solution on the horizon.

“It is vital that the councils in Cumbria that backed research into a storage facility work with the Government to find a way forward.

First published at 08:48, Monday, 04 February 2013
Published by http://www.in-cumbria.com