State-owned British Nuclear Fuels today reported record losses of £2.3 billion sterling but said its operating performance had improved.
Chairman Mr Hugh Collum said it had been a "landmark year" for the company, which had achieved an underlying profit before tax and exceptional items of £22 million.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Martin Cullen said the losses ‘vindicate’ the Irish Government’s position that nuclear energy is economically unsustainable.
"The huge losses incurred by the company, which runs the Sellafield MOX plant, has confirmed our view that, reprocessing activities at Sellafield must be stopped," Mr Cullen said.
He added that there is "no justification, economic or otherwise" for nuclear reprocessing and that the government would continue to press for the closure of Sellafield.
Meanwhile, Friends of the Earth has called for an investigation into the British government's management of the company.
The group's nuclear campaigner Mr Roger Higman said the scale of the losses was "staggering", adding: "They undermine the fact that nuclear power is completely uneconomic."