Greenpeace Costs Be Atomic Plan at £25bn

Buying British Energy and using its sites to build a new generation of nuclear power stations would be a costly way of achieving very little in the battle against climate change, according to Greenpeace.

Shares in BE, which is 35% government-owned, have soared in the last week amid speculation of a bid for the company, which owns eight nuclear power stations.

Reports yesterday suggested France's state-controlled EDF was prepared to offer just under 700p a share, while its German rival RWE is believed to be considering an offer of about 700p. That would value BE at more than £11bn but analysts believe an auction could drive the price higher.

Yesterday Ben Ayliffe, head of Greenpeace's nuclear campaign, said: "This is a staggeringly expensive way of doing very little to tackle climate change, given that a replacement nuclear program can only reduce our carbon emissions by 4% some time after 2020. It's inconceivable that these enormous costs aren't going to be passed on to customers in the form of higher energy bills.

"It could cost EDF over £12bn to buy British Energy. Add to this at least a further £10bn to build the reactors, not forgetting the cost of upgrading the electricity grid and dealing with nuclear waste, and the bill for a handful of new atomic plants comes in at over £25bn.

"An equivalent investment in renewable technology and energy efficiency would deliver much bigger emissions cuts and provide hundreds of thousands of green collar jobs."

Germany's E.ON, Spain's Iberdrola and British Gas parent company Centrica are also rumored to be interested in BE.