In a direct communication, the source explained:
We can confirm that this negative value is correct and relates to British Nuclear Fuels plc reactors which were at the end of their productive lives being transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in April 2005.
For UK National Accounts purposes, British Nuclear Fuels is classified as a Public Corporation while the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is part of Central Government. This means that while the transfer does not affect overall UK economy GFCF since it is an acquisition by one sector and a disposal by another sector, it needs to be reflected in General Government GFCF (which includes Central Government) as recorded in series DLWF. The value of the transfer was around £-15.6 billion and reflects the fact that the reactors are at the end of their productive lives and have large decommissioning and clean-up liabilities.
The series resides in the historical catalog (United Kingdom » National Accounts » Additional Detail » ONS - Detailed - National Accounts » Quarterly) and is:
- ONSNADLWFQ.IGBR = Gross fixed capital formation, Total general government [P51] (Mil. Ch. 2016 GBP, SA)
Because catalog locations are subject to change, the upper-right search box on DataBuffet.com provides a "find in catalog" mode that accepts a mnemonic.
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