nuclear-news

Sellafield Nuclear Site, Cumbria, England

Even as Japan is starting up more nuclear reactors, it has found a neat trick for dealing with the plutonium waste generated by nuclear power stations: Send it elsewhere. At the Sellafield nuclear site, the UK reports 126.3 metric tons of “civilian” plutonium, as of December 2014: https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/infcirc549a8-18.pdf Around 21 tons is Japanese. Even if Japan eventually repatriates its plutonium, some will stay in Nordic air and seas – legally emitted during fuel “reprocessing”. Meanwhile, The US DOE wants to let Japan dump almost one ton of plutonium on the USA. See more: http://www.srswatch.org

In the British Parliament:
“Energy: Plutonium
Question
Asked by Lord Avebury

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will state how much of the 140 tonnes of civil separated plutonium that will be held by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in the United Kingdom on completion of reprocessing operations is owned…