There's a jaw-dropping number in this

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-31725365

... and it's not the updated (increased by £5 billion) cost figure of £53 billion, impressive though that number is when you realise it means getting on for £1,000 per every man, woman and child living in the UK.

No, the real "fuuuuuuu......ck!" number is in this little nugget:

The Authority aims to clear the site by 2120

That's not a typo. Anyone else aware of official plans/targets for dates after any adult alive today will be long dead barring massive increases in life expectancy?

Edit: by the way, I had to look at some official publications on the whole Sellafield clean up thing - a white paper and so on - years ago for work. The account of what a nightmarish mess it is, the extent of the sheer unknown aspects, and the jaw-dropping insanity of what those arseholes did back in the 1950s and 1960s is staggering.

[Hugh Fatbastard]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

The work is also behind schedule, the report said.

I'd have to agree.

The cost seems more manageable spread out over the length of the job, though.

[ursus arctos]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

Pretty much anything associated with nuclear waste has geological time scales.

[Borracho]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

Every once in a while, I edit an article about the commercial property market here, i.e. retail buildings rather than residential homes. They occasionally contain a reference to such-and-such building being on a 500-year or 999-year lease, which always gets my mind wondering what the street in question, or even the city in general, will look like by then.

[Hugh Fatbastard]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

Green Calx wrote: Every once in a while, I edit an article about the commercial property market here, i.e. retail buildings rather than residential homes. They occasionally contain a reference to such-and-such building being on a 500-year or 999-year lease, which always gets my mind wondering what the street in question, or even the city in general, will look like by then.

What would be the purpose of such a length of a lease ?

I can't even imagine that the subject buildings will still be standing at that point.

Is this just a way of not having to keep renewing leases (Evergreening) ?

[ursus arctos]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

Presumably there is an advantage to someone in structuring it as a lease, with the freehold belonging to another party.

Vast swathes of London are held under 99 year leases, which always struck me as bizarre.

[Ginger Yellow]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

They're pretty common. My flat is a 999 year lease. Well, 998 now. The developer has or had the freehold, and gets a ground rent.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

I think they're self-renewing, those 99-year leases. We were going to buy a flat in London subject to one, that the owners had been in for about 20 years, so I suggested "our" lease would only be 79 years, then, but our Solicitor explained no it would start again at 99. I didn't really understand that, and we never bought it in the end anyway, once I realised we'd be paying about £400 a year to the leaseholder for them doing the sqaure root of fuck all other than live on their land (they weren't even responsible for mending the roof).

[Mumpo]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

2120? That's not ten minutes away. They'll be home for Newsnight.

[Paul S]

There's a jaw-dropping number in this

Not if they're on Virgin Trains mate, they'll still be stuck at a points failure at Crewe.