Brexit Is a Game-Changer for the British Nuclear Industry
- U.K. withdrawal from nuclear treaty mirrors EU-exit challenges
- Going it alone signals higher costs for companies, taxpayers
The Sellafield atomic fuel reprocessing site, operated by Sellafield Ltd., stands in Seascale, U.K., on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016. Sellafield, the 70-year-old home to Europe's largest nuclear site with 10,000 employees and its own rail service and police and fire departments looks its age and will eventually cost at least £90 billion to properly clean up, says Paul Dorfman, honorary senior researcher at the Energy Institute at University College London.
Photographer: Angus Bennett/BloombergTo understand the implications of Brexit, it helps to go nuclear.
Of all the international regulatory challenges created by the U.K.’s impending departure from the European Union, the atomic-energy industry may best encapsulate the decision’s bottom-line effect: more bureaucracy and costs for a country that has long fought to curb both within the EU.