As the opposition grows across the country to the new-build nuclear plant proposals, the Times has highlighted the turmoil across the channel in the nuclear industry.

Adam Sage says that uranium supplies have dried up and the treatment of spent fuel has been blocked amid an increasingly bitter row between the heads of its two main state operators in France.

EDF, the electricity group that runs 58 reactors in France, said that Areva, the nuclear energy group, had stopped uranium deliveries on January 4 and was refusing to take away spent fuel for reprocessing.

“The transport of combustibles isn't working at the moment,” Anne Lauvergeon, the chairwoman of Areva, said.

As a result, used fuel is remaining at EDF sites instead of being reprocessed at La Hague treatment plant in northern France.

Mrs Lauvergeon blamed a breakdown in talks over a new 800 million contract with EDF to process spent fuel.

“We've been talking for too long,' she said, calling on President Sarkozy's Government to resolve the dispute.

Although Areva supplies 68 per cent of the uranium used in EDF's reactors, which themselves produce 77 per cent of electricity in France, the electricity group said it had enough stocks to last several months without envisaging power cuts.

A spokesman said that it could keep spent fuel at its plants without risk of a radioactive leak.

But the dispute is certain to damage the reputation of the two nuclear operators, which are both among the world's biggest.

As insults flew between the two state-owned groups, which are both significant players in Britain's energy sector, Areva denied that it had stopped uranium supplies but confirmed EDF's claims about the block on treating spent fuel.

The dispute comes amid tense relations between Mrs Lauvergeon and Henri Proglio, who followed his appointment as chairman of EDF in November with a call for a shake-up of the French nuclear sector.

Their squabble has been cited as one of the factors behind France's failure to secure a 30 billion contract to build reactors in Abu Dhabi.

The contract went to a South Korean consortium led by Korea Electric Power, and Mrs Lauvergeon implicitly blamed EDF for failing to back her in the negotiations.

“I fully assume my responsibilities and those of Areva, but I don't intend to assume other people's,” she said.

She added: ''South Korea was ready to do anything to win, in terms of price and in state financing.”

The turmoil in France comes at a time when there are strong claims that the Government’s nuclear energy strategy is based on a ‘dodgy dossier’ just as ‘misleading’ as the one that took Britain to war in Iraq.

It’s the view of a South Lakeland campaigner against atomic power claims, Marianne Birkby, of Radiation Free Lakeland.

She says the public was being ‘hoodwinked’ by ministers who are failing to take proper account of independent scientific advice.

“They are pushing for nuclear build at any cost without letting the public see the evidence,” said Ms Birkby, who has been invited to give oral evidence at a Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry on nuclear power next Wednesday.

“The Draft National Nuclear Policy Statement drawn up by the Department for Energy and Climate Change is a staggering concoction of lies, which if allowed to go unchallenged will have devastating consequences for us and the wider international community.

“The statement is just as misleading as Tony Blair’s dodgy dossier on Iraq.

“Ministers are distorting scientific advice just like Mr Blair did with intelligence advice about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction.”

Ms Birkby said the Government’s plan to dispose of nuclear waste underground ignored scientific reality.

“Independent expert advice is that there is no known way to safely store nuclear waste, but ministers are saying that’s what they want to see happen.”

She said the Government was also ignoring evidence that building three nuclear power stations would have a ‘negative impact’ on land and marine environments in Cumbria and north Lancashire.”

The three nuclear power stations proposed for Cumbria are at Sellafield, Braystones and Kirksanton. A fourth atomic plant would be built at Heysham if the Government’s plans finally go ahead.

The proposals are currently out to public consultation.

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