UK Government Sells UKAEA to Babcock International

The UK government has announced that they will sell the commercial leg of the Atomic Energy Agency called UKAEA Limited. A deal has been struck with Babcock International who will purchase the nuclear firm for £50m. The government announced they would sell the UKAEA earlier in the year.

Babcock will claim a 100 percent stake in the firm, becoming the sole owner of UKAEU. Lord Mandelson stated that the sale will enable UKAEA to develop more quickly and take advantage of upcoming opportunities in the nuclear sector. The business secretary also commented that the sale has generated revenue for the government.

Babcock is already a major player in the nuclear industry sector in the UK. The company also has projects and interests in other countries including Africa, Canada, and Australia. UKAEA currently employs 230 people in the UK and is working on the decommissioning of work for the government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Agency at several locations including Scotland, Dorset, and Oxfordshire.

Several groups have come forward to criticise the sale which, according to the Conservatives is most likely an attempt to boost much needed public finances. Currently, several European nuclear companies are gearing up to submit plans for nuclear power projects to build in Britain, as several of the island’s nuclear reactors will be retiring in the next decade.

Last week GDF Suez, a French energy group, and the Spanish Iberdrola announced a partnership to create several new nuclear plants in the region. Nuclear power is continuing to thrive despite heavy opposition as governments begin looking to cleaner sources of energy in preparation for the UN climate talks in Copenhagen.