BRITISH Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) has reported an operating loss of £210m and said performance in some of its areas was "unacceptable".

The Cumbria-based nuclear fuel operator said problems at its Wylfa Power Station in North Wales had contributed to a poor performance in generation by its Magnox stations.

Loss after exceptional items in the last financial year was £66m, compared with £337m the year before.

The Wylfa station was off-line for most of the financial year because of essential engineering work, which lowered BNFL's capacity by about 40 per cent. The Magnox business had a pre-tax, pre-exceptional loss of £199m which significantly affected the company's financial results.

BNFL chairman Hugh Collum said the company was rebuilding customer confidence and said "significant progress" had been made in addressing issues raised by Health and Safety reports into the company last year.

Mr Collum said: "It has been a year of substantial progress during which we have accelerated change throughout the company. Although there has been significant improvement in operating performance in some parts of the business, there are areas where performance was unacceptable."

Mr Collum said the company's spent fuel business broke even last year which was a "significant adverse swing" from the previous year's record output. The outlook for the business was encouraging. "We are operating at a time when the prospects for a renaissance in nuclear power are brighter than for many years."