Dounreay admits reprocessing is costly option

A document obtained by the Nuclear Free Local Authorities has revealed that the management of Dounreay know that reprocessing plutonium is not cheaper than storing it. The document was marked "UKAEA Restricted - Commercial" and was obtained from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. The UKAEA had asked SEPA not to hand over the report, but they did not comply.

The confidential draft report was written in January and deals with options for 25 tonnes of plutonium fuel. In it the UKAEA say that if the plutonium is classified as waste, then storing it would be much cheaper than reprocessing.

 

Meanwhile environmental groups in the US are opposing plans to ship 550 kgs of plutonium from Dounreay to Hanford in Washington state. The plutonium was originally for use in a fast breeder reactor in Germany, but this project was abandoned. Some of the fuel was moved to Dounreary for the fast breeder reactor there. But this closed down in 1994. The German firm is currently paying for the material to be stored in Scotland.

The US proposal is that the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) in Hanford should be restarted to use the plutonium to produce medical isotopes. Ed Lyman of the Nuclear Control Institute said "Restarting FFTF is a bad idea on both non-proliferation and safety grounds. It is foolish for the DoE to start up a fast breeder reactor at the same time it is supposed to be discouraging other nations, especially Russia, from pursuing breeder reactor development."

based on article by Rob Edwards, Sunday Herald 10 Sep 00