Nuclear Company Underwrites Parliamentary Committee

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's bid to pave the way for an expansion of the nuclear power industry through the 2006 Energy Review and its consultation document, Our Energy Challenge, has been hit by controversy over undisclosed corporate lobbying. The Scottish Sunday Herald reports that a cross-party parliamentary group on nuclear power "failed to declare the administrative support it receives from nuclear power firm British Energy." The group was also given presentations by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and the nuclear waste agency, Nirex. The cross-party group and its English counterpart, the Nuclear Energy APPG, also went on a trip, which was part-funded by the company, to a nuclear power station. NDA uses the PR firm Bell Pottinger Public Affairs, while Nirex is advised by Fleishman Hillard. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), which is responsible for decommissioning existing nuclear plants, has hired Grayling Political Strategy.