U-turn saves Sellafield jobs

THOUSANDS OF jobs at Sellafield won an unexpected reprieve yesterday when the German government reversed its decision to cancel contracts for the reprocessing of nuclear waste.

In a startling U-turn that angered Green ministers, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder announced that the envisaged ban on reprocessing, due to begin at the end of this year, was "technically not possible". The pounds 1.2bn contract with Sellafield, and a pounds 3bn deal with the French plant La Hague, must now be honoured, unless the German government finds other ways of extricating itself.

Until yesterday, Bonn had claimed that it could back out of the agreements without the need to pay compensation. But it had failed to reckon with the power of its own nuclear lobby. What the governments of Britain and France could not do, German industry achieved after just two hours of discussions with Mr Schroder's government yesterday.

The crucial factor was the threat by Sellafield and La Hague to send back immediately hundreds of tonnes of highly radioactive spent German fuel. The controversial trains carrying their unpopular cargo would have had to make dozens of trips this year to disposal sites in Germany.

The vaults would have filled so swiftly, several plants would be forced to shut because of lack of space for their waste.

The target date for ending the British and French contracts is the year 2004.