British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) was set up in February 1971 from the demerger of the production division of the
UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). In 1984, BNFL became a
public limited company as British Nuclear Fuels plc, wholly owned by the UK government. Its US subsidiary BNFL, Inc. was established in 1990 and specialised in decontamination and decommissioning of nuclear sites. In 1996, seven
advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) and one
pressurised water reactor (PWR) were privatised as
British Energy, raising £2.1billion. The oldest reactors, the
Magnox sites, were not attractive for commercial operations and remained in public ownership as
Magnox Electric. On 30 January 1998, Magnox Electric was merged into BNFL as BNFL Magnox Generation.
Quality data falsification crisis In 1999, it was discovered that BNFL staff had been falsifying some
MOX fuel quality assurance data since 1996. A
Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) investigation concluded that "the level of control and supervision ... had been virtually non-existent." BNFL had to pay compensation to the Japanese customer,
Kansai Electric, and take back a flawed shipment of MOX fuel from Japan. BNFL's Chief Executive John Taylor resigned, after initially resisting resignation when the NII's damning report was published. As a consequence of this crisis, a possible partial privatisation of BNFL was delayed by two years.
Expansion In 1999, BNFL acquired
Westinghouse Electric Company, the commercial nuclear power businesses of
CBS (Westinghouse acquired CBS in 1995 and reoriented itself as a broadcaster), for $1.1 billion. Westinghouse's businesses are fuel manufacture, decommissioning of nuclear sites and reactor design, construction and servicing. In 2000, BNFL also purchased the nuclear businesses of
ABB for £300million. This company, which was merged into Westinghouse, had nuclear interests in the United States, Europe and Asia. In June 2000, BNFL took a 22.5% stake in
Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (Pty) Ltd in South Africa. In January 2003, the research and development arm of BNFL was relaunched as Nuclear Sciences and Technology Services (NSTS). However, BNFL's financial difficulties increased, and the prospect of partial privatisation diminished.
Reorganisation On 1 April 2005, the company was reorganised as part of the restructuring of the wider nuclear industry. BNFL became
British Nuclear Group (BNG) and a new holding company was established and adopted the British Nuclear Fuels name. This new BNFL operated largely through its major subsidiaries of Westinghouse and BNG as well as
Nexia Solutions, its commercial nuclear technology business formed out of NSTS. The
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was established on 1 April 2005 and took ownership of all of BNFL's nuclear sites, including the
Sellafield site. The NDA then opened up the decommissioning of the different sites to tender to drive down costs. BNFL became one of a number of decommissioning contractors through BNG. BNFL's nuclear waste transfer companies,
Direct Rail Services and
International Nuclear Services, were also both transferred to the NDA. On 19 April 2005, BNFL, Inc. was renamed BNG America and made a subsidiary of BNG.
Sale of Westinghouse In July 2005, BNFL confirmed it planned to sell Westinghouse, then estimated to be worth US$1.8billion (£1bn). However the bid attracted interest from several companies, including
Toshiba,
General Electric and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and when the
Financial Times reported on 23 January 2006 that Toshiba had won the bid, it valued the company's offer at US$5bn (£2.8bn). On 6 February 2006, Toshiba confirmed it was buying Westinghouse Electric Company for $5.4bn and announced it would sell a minority stake to investors.
Break up of British Nuclear Group On 3 February 2006, BNFL announced it had agreed to sell BNG America to
Envirocare to form
EnergySolutions. In March 2006, BNFL announced its intention to sell BNG. With the sale of Westinghouse, BNG America and BNG this was to effectively bring BNFL to an end. Mike Parker, CEO of BNFL, said: "By the end of 2007... there will be little need for the BNFL corporate centre from this time". On 22 August 2006, BNFL announced that instead of selling BNG as a going concern it would instead sell it off piece by piece. In January 2007, BNFL announced that it would sell BNG's
Magnox reactor sites operating business,
Reactor Sites Management Company Ltd. It was later sold in June 2007, along with its subsidiary that held the operating contracts with the NDA,
Magnox Electric, to
EnergySolutions. All UK Magnox power stations were due to cease operation by the end of 2015. BNG Project Services, BNG's specialist nuclear consulting business, was sold in January 2008 to
VT Group, which was itself later acquired in 2010 by
Babcock International Group. BNG was renamed
Sellafield Ltd and became the NDA's Site Licence Company (SLC) for the decommissioning contract at Sellafield. In November 2008, the NDA contracted the management of Sellafield Ltd to Nuclear Management Partners Ltd, a consortium of
URS,
AMEC and
Areva.
Formation of the National Nuclear Laboratory In July 2006, the UK Government stated its intention to preserve and develop key research and development capabilities potentially as part of a
National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL). In October 2006,
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry,
Alistair Darling confirmed the NNL would be formed out of
Nexia Solutions and the British Technology Centre at Sellafield. The NNL was launched in July 2008 as a Government-owned company, and initially was managed under contract by a consortium of
Serco,
Battelle and the
University of Manchester; this is known as a GOCO (Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated) arrangement.
Final disposals Control of BNFL's one third stake in
Urenco was transferred to the
Shareholder Executive in April 2008 through Enrichment Holdings Ltd while the government explored the possibility of selling the stake. BNFL's one third stake of AWE Management Ltd was sold to
Jacobs Engineering Group in December 2008.
AWE is responsible for the support and manufacturing of the UK's nuclear deterrent. As BNFL was wound down it was converted back to a private
limited company on 31 December 2008 and regained its original name, British Nuclear Fuels Limited. The final sale transactions for BNFL's former businesses were completed in May 2009. Despite this, the company itself was not wound up and continued as a legal entity. However, on 18 July 2023, BNFL was resurrected as Great British Nuclear, with the aim of delivering the government's long-term nuclear programme and supporting its ambition to deliver up to 24 GW of nuclear power in the UK by 2050. In March 2024, Great British Nuclear bought the
Oldbury and
Wylfa sites from
Horizon in a deal worth £160million.
Renaming as Great British Energy – Nuclear In June 2025, Great British Nuclear was renamed as Great British Energy – Nuclear.
The Guardian reported the renaming was to enable £2.5 billion of
Great British Energy's budget to be transferred to the nuclear industry for
small modular reactor development in a way compatible with
Labour Party 2024 manifesto promises. In 2026, GBE-N was granted an electricity generating licence. It is proposed that GBE-N build three
Rolls-Royce SMRs at
Wylfa nuclear power station; the final investment decision is expected in 2029. == Leadership ==