THE bill to the taxpayer for decommissioning Britain’s ageing nuclear power stations has increased by £6 billion in a single year to almost £70bn, campaigners warned yesterday.

Manchester-based Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA) group said that further increases were expected and called for an end to the development of new nuclear power stations in Britain and an increase in renewable energy investment.

The NFLA said that most of the increase was down to the soaring costs of decommissioning Cumbria’s Sellafield nuclear site.

It questioned the government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s reappointment of Nuclear Management Partners to the decommissioning contract.

“In this age of austerity, nuclear power remains the one part of public expenditure that is ‘cuts proof’,” said NFLA chairman Councillor Mark Hackett.

 “I am not surprised at the continuing evidence of ever-increasing decommissioning costs with the UK’s nuclear legacy.”

And the group also challenged the government’s decision to invest billions more of taxpayers’ cash in new nuclear power stations including Hinkley Point in Somerset.

The government has appointed Electricite de France, which is owned mainly by the French government, to build Hinkley Point.

But the huge public subsidies involved are being investigated by the European Commission.

Britain is suffering a crippling financial legacy from its introduction of nuclear power 60 years ago.

“In my time as NFLA chair I have read with depressing regularity many examples of the wasting of billions of pounds of public money on such projects,” said Mr Hackett.

“What other industry would get away with annual costs rising by £6 billion?”