BRITISH NUCLEAR FUELS, LTD. and RADIOCHEMICAL CENTRE LTD. (Hansard, 24 January 1974)

§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENERGY (LORD CARRINGTON)

During debates on the Atomic Energy Authority Bill in 1970 and 1971, the Government undertook to inform Parliament of its plans for private participation in British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. and the Radiochemical Centre Ltd.; a policy to which both the last Government was, and the present one is, committed.

In 1971, under the Atomic Energy Authority Act 1971, the Authority's nuclear fuel production business was transferred to British Nuclear Fuels, Ltd., 1702WA and the radioisotope business to The Radiochemical Centre, Ltd. The shares in both companies are at present held entirely by the Atomic Energy Authority; and the Act obliges the Authority and the Government, separately or jointly, to continue to hold at least 51 per cent. of the voting shares.

The Radiochemical Centre develops and produces radiochemicals, radio-pharmaceuticals and radiation sources for use in medicine, industry and research. The business has grown steadily and in 1972–73 the Company's sales were £7.6 million of which nearly 70 per cent. was to customers overseas. In the light of a report by Messrs. N. M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd., the Government and the Atomic Energy Authority have considered two main alternative ways of making shares in The Radiochemical Centre available to interested purchasers. These are: on the one hand, an invitation to other companies to bid for shares; and, on the other hand, a public flotation.

The Government has decided, with the full consent and co-operation of the Atomic Energy Authority and the Company, that the right course is a public flotation, subject to the statutory requirement for the Authority and the Government to continue to retain a majority of the shares. The Centre is a well-established commercial business; and in the light of Rothschild's advice, the Government and the Atomic Energy Authority are confident that shares in the Company will command a price fully reflecting the public investment in the business and its promising future. In order to get the Centre off to the best possible start as a public company, the Government and the Authority have decided that, before a public flotation takes place, the Company should complete the introduction of an improved system of product costing and obtain one or two years' accounts based on it. Subject to this, the precise timing of a flotation will depend upon general business and market conditions.

The business of British Nuclear Fuels, Ltd., consists mainly in the provision of fuel and the associated services of the fuel cycle for nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom; but the Company has also built up a significant export business in nuclear fuel services. In 1972–73, total sales amounted to £65 million of which exports represented over £6 million. The 1703WA Company is the United Kingdom's participant in the uranium enrichment gas centrifuge collaboration with the Netherlands and West Germany and has entered into other arrangements with European countries covering transport of irradiated fuel and its reprocessing.

In the light of a report by J. Henry Schroder Wagg & Company, Ltd., the Government and the Atomic Energy Authority have considered the timing and method of sale of shares in B.N.F.L. They are confident that the Company faces a future of further expansion; but this has yet to show itself through a resumption 1704WA of domestic ordering of nuclear power stations. The Government and the Authority, with the full agreement of the Company, have therefore decided that a more suitable time to sell shares would be when the ordering of new nuclear power stations is fully under way, and the prospects for expansion of the whole range of B.N.F.L.'s business are more clearly established. A review of the position will be made in 1975, and at the same time further consideration will be given to the method of sale.

House adjourned, at twenty minutes past ten o'clock.