The government faced a barrage of attacks in the Commons after last Friday's announcement it is gradually to close down the Dounreay nuclear plant in Scotland.

John Battle: "There is no economic case for supporting commercial reprocessing at Dounreay over the long term"

Energy minister John Battle told MPs the decision had come after the UK Atomic Energy Authority said there was no commercial reason to keep the plant going.

But he insisted that, because of the huge amount of decommissioning work needed to bring the plant's life to an end, there would be jobs for another 100 years at the site.

Mr Battle said the plant, which has not produced electricity for more than five years, would continue to reprocess material it had already accepted, but would take on no more.

International obligations

The last contract was a small amount of waste from a plant in Georgia, in the former Soviet Union, which Britain had accepted as part of its international responsibilities to stop it falling into the wrong hands, he said.

The Liberal Democrat MP for the area, Robert Maclennan, led the attacks on the government, saying there had been contradictory briefings from ministers on the plant's future.

"The cack-handed approach to the presentation of this issue has created nothing but confusion, headlines persisting even today in the Scottish newspapers speaking of the proposed closure of Dounreay."

John Redwood: "Government is presiding over a complete shambles"

Conservative trade spokesman John Redwood took up the assault, accusing the government of "presiding over a complete shambles".

"First they tell us Dounreay is a safe facility and invite in material from Georgia. They they close an important part of the plant for safety reasons, then they tell us that they will pay to make the plant work again as it did before now they will tell us they will spend a lot of taxpayers' money only to run it down.

Permanent spin

John Redwood: "government in a permanent spin"

"It's not the usual government by U-turn, it's government in a permanent spin. One spin doctor corrects what another spin doctor said wrongly the day before. It is no way to run such a sensitive industry.

"Will he apologise for this complete and comprehensive disaster. Does he not see that this now means maximum cost to the taxpayer and minimum benefit for Britain.

"It is a fitting testomony to months of dithering and contradictory statements," he said.

But Mr Battle hit back, insisting the government had inherited a problem and acted to solve it when the previous administration would not even admit it existed.

"The whole point of this decision is to have a clear focus for that plant and for the workforce so they know what they will be getting on with and doing rather than wondering whether future contracts will be coming or not.

"I think that was generating uncertainty. We have cut through that and given a clear sense of direction for the future.

Work for years

"The workforce, according to some estimates, that will be needed at that plant will be around 1,200 - almost as many as the plant employs today - to deal with those liabilities," he said.

"It is not the case that this plant is being closed down overnight," he said.

The issue has dogged the government for months, with environmentalists and Scottish Nationalist MPs furious at the decisison to accept waste for reprocessing from Georgia.

On two occasions Prime Minister Tony Blair was forced to defend the plan in the Commons before Friday's embarrassing announcement that it was to be gradually phased out of operation.