BNFL

Support services company Serco and US firm Lockheed Martin, which own the remaining two-thirds of the AWE management company, AWEML, have already signalled an interest in buying up BNFL's stake, reportedly worth up to pounds 100m.

BNFL said it has "commenced the sale" of the newly created Reactor Sites Management Company (RSMC), which manages its operations and decommissioning at the Magnox sites including Sizewell A, Hinkley Point A and Dungeness A.

Fluor confirmed the offer but not the price, which BNFL said varied depending on conditions attached to business contracts BNG holds.

It will in particular decommission a number of assets previously owned by BNFL, including the Magnox nuclear power plants and the THORP and SMP plants of the Sellafield site.

BNFL chief executive Mike Parker said the deal to sell US-based Westinghouse to Toshiba for pounds 3.1bn was an 'excellent result' for Britain.

A British Government investigation said BNFL bosses produced dodgy figures - so new nuclear reactors would get the go-ahead.

Mr Cuffe called for the facility to be safely shut down, adding that BNFL had lost all credibility in reassuring the public of its safety.

Prospect, a union representing 6,000 engineers, scientists and managers at Sellafield and the company's 21 other sites, warned a break-up of BNFL would set back the nuclear industry in the UK "many years and many billions of pounds".

BNFL said more than pounds 500million had been spent on discharging 'historic nuclear liabilities' during the 12 months to March 31, adding that their safety record during the year had been the best in their history.

Fourth, BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels) and almost all of the other major employers in the U.K.

That 16-month closure cost BNFL an estimated pounds 180m.

However, a BNFL spokesman said today: ``We have no plans to sell,but Westinghouse will be part of a review by new chief executive Michael Parker.''