Nuclear alarms panic BE punters

AILING nuclear generator British Energy was hit by a double whammy as it admitted safety at its power plants had slipped and it was losing its technical guru.

The firm announced the news as it faced the wrath of shareholders at its annual meeting in Edinburgh ahead of a controversial proposed restructuring this year.

Chairman Adrian Montague said: 'It is disappointing to have to record that during last year our performance against key industrial safety indicators declined slightly.'

BE owns and operates eight nuclear power stations around the UK, including Heysham in Lancashire and Hinkley Point B in Somerset. A BE spokesman denied that the safety decline was serious.

Hours earlier BE admitted David Gilchrist, managing director of nuclear generation for the last two years, had decided to leave.

Gilchrist would have been promoted to technical director, working alongside Roy Anderson, the firm's new chief nuclear officer.

Chief executive Mike Alexander denied a conflict, saying: 'Gilchrist is a strong supporter of the company's performance improvement programme.'

The news came as BE's leading shareholder Polygon Investment Partners continued to pile on the pressure against the company's restructuring plan, where shareholders end up with 2.5% of the equity.

Polygon, with 5.6% of BE, proposed a deal with shareholders investing millions of pounds to pay off bondholders and to retain a 30% equity stake in the firm which produces a fifth of the UK's electricity.

BE chairman Adrian Montague said the current plan was the only one.

'The restructuring agreements we entered into are binding. There's simply no other viable course for us,' he said, threatening to delist the shares if he had to.

American Brian Stark built up a 5.3% stake earlier this week. The shares fell 2p to 19p.