nuclear-news

Biggest pile of plutonium in the world: Britain’s nightmare

Britain has accumulated the biggest stockpile of civil
plutonium in the world, a target for terrorists and future bomb-makers. What was once thought to be a valued asset is now a costly liability. The Government faces a dilemma. Should it try to
turn the stuff into nuclear fuel at huge cost or write off the plutonium altogether? Previous attempts to deal with the problem went disastrously wrong, costing the taxpayer more than a billion pounds. Tonight File on 4 investigates what’s been called one of the most embarrassing failures in British industrial history. And now MP’s are worried taxpayers could be asked to pay up again.
……..Contrary to what you might expect, the plutonium is not
kept in enormous barrels. It’s actually kept in quite small containers made out of stainless steel
and about a foot in length and probably about 5” in diameter, a bit like elongated biscuit
barrels, other than they are stainless steel and made to the highest specifications and on the
outside they actually have what amounts to a bar code, so the material can be traced should
inspectors from abroad or at home need to identify which batch of plutonium came from
where. All part of the checks and balances which go into keeping this stuff carefully monitored
and accounted for……
because it is so portable, it’s a potential terrorism
target. One expert told us Britain’s plutonium stockpile was enough to make ten thousand
nuclear weapons. File on 4 has learned that simply keeping the plutonium safe and secure for
the coming century will cost us around £80 million a year…..
I think there are £8 billion for the storage and ultimate management of the material, if we
continue with the current policy.- 5 –
BROOMBY: So that would equate with about £80 million a year?
SIMPER: The sums seem to be like that, yes…..
BROOMBY: So how has such a costly problem developed? The truth
is, plutonium is not an accidental by-product; it was originally manufactured in nuclear reactors
to make atomic bombs. It is now extracted from used nuclear fuel – basically radioactive waste
– by what’s called reprocessing. The pioneers of the atomic industry saw plutonium as a fuel
for what was then a new style of reactor called the fast breeder. But it proved to be
troublesome on both cost and safety grounds and the Government cancelled the programme in
the early 1990s……..

June 4, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - plutonium, Reference, UK