nuclear-news

Plutonium now called “material” as it travels from Scotland to Wales

Breeder is classed as material and not as fuel or waste, by NDA.

Nuclear material moved by train from Scotland to England , BBC News,  17 December 2012  The first of 90 rail shipments of nuclear material from Dounreay in Caithness to Sellafield in Cumbria was made overnight.

The journey was understood to have been made under armed escort. Forty-four tonnes of breeder material in total will be transported by train to Sellafield for reprocessing.

At an estimated cost of £60m, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
(NDA) said it was a cheaper option than trying to deal with it at
Dounreay.

Breeder is classed as material and not as fuel or waste, by NDA.

The material comprises cylinders of uranium metal, about 150mm long
and 35mm in diameter known as “pucks”.

Fourteen pucks are stacked end-to-end in a stainless steel tube. The
tubes were positioned vertically to form an outer ring around
experimental Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR).

The material is being transported about 400 miles (643.7km) in
containers called flasks.

The breeder material is being transported in containers called flasks
The NDA held a public consultation on a number of options for what to
do with Dounreay’s breeder material.

In their responses, campaign group Nuclear Free Local Authorities
(NFLA) and Shetland Islands Council said they wanted it to be stored
at the Caithness site.
Nuclear material moved by train from Scotland to England…..
The authority has also proposed moving other material called
“exotics”, which includes fuel containing highly-enriched uranium,
from Dounreay to Sellafield at a later date.

The NDA has said it could be moved in up to 60 journeys over six years
starting sometime in 2014 or 2015.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-20754726

December 18, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - plutonium, UK