UK opts for disposal of plutonium inventory
The UK government has announced that the country's stockpile of some 140 tonnes of civil plutonium - currently stored at the Sellafield site in Cumbria - will be immobilised and eventually disposed of in a geological disposal facility. The inventory arose from the reprocessing of used fuel undertaken over many decades.
_75800.jpg)
"Continued, indefinite, long-term storage leaves a burden of security risks and proliferation sensitivities for future generations to manage," Michael Shanks, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, said in a written statement to the House of Commons. "It is the government's objective to put this material beyond reach, into a form which both reduces the long-term safety and security burden during storage and ensures it is suitable for disposal in a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF)."
He noted that, following a public consultation in 2011, the government at the time formed a preliminary policy view to pursue reuse of plutonium as mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel but to remain open to any alternative proposals for plutonium management.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has since carried out technical, deliverability and economic analysis to identify a preferred option for a long-term disposition solution, including options for immobilisation and reuse. The outcome of this work recommended immobilisation as the preferred way forward to put the material beyond reach soonest and with greatest delivery confidence.
"Following further development work, the NDA will select a preferred technology for immobilisation of the plutonium as a product suitable for long-term storage and subsequently disposal in a GDF," Shanks said. "We expect that around the end of the decade following government approval the NDA and Sellafield will begin delivery of the major build programme of plutonium disposition infrastructure."
The NDA welcomed the decision, saying the next phase will be to seek approval for a major programme on plutonium disposition, requiring a nuclear material processing plant and interim storage capability to be built at Sellafield, "bringing major investment to the area and supporting thousands of skilled jobs for decades".
It added: "In the meantime, plutonium will continue to be stored in a suite of custom-built facilities at Sellafield that ensure its safety and security in line with regulatory requirements."
Sellafield Ltd CEO Euan Hutton said: "We have safely and securely managed plutonium at Sellafield since the 1940s, developing world leading expertise in the process. The decision to immobilise the material places Sellafield at the centre of the effort, working with the NDA, Nuclear Waste Services and our partners including the supply chain, to create a solution that delivers maximum value for all of our stakeholders."
_17992.jpg)
