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The UK government has announced plans to dispose of its 140-tonne stockpile of radioactive plutonium. The hazardous material is currently stored in a secure facility at Sellafield in Cumbria, making the UK the world’s largest holder of the material, which is a by-product of nuclear fuel reprocessing. The plutonium has been stored at the site for decades in a form that allows for recycling into new nuclear fuel. However, the government has decided not to reuse it and instead to immobilise the material, putting it beyond reach and ready for permanent disposal underground.
The material is highly radioactive, and its storage in its current form requires frequent repackaging. Radiation damages the containers, and armed police are required to guard the site, costing taxpayers over £70m per year. The government has determined that the safest and most economically viable solution is to immobilise the entire stockpile. A facility will be constructed at Sellafield where the plutonium can be converted into a stable, rock-like material that can eventually be disposed of deep underground.
Energy minister Michael Shanks emphasised the objective of “put[ting] 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”. Nuclear materials scientist Dr Lewis Blackburn from the University of Sheffield said the plutonium would be “converted into a ceramic material” that, while still radioactive, is solid and stable and thus deemed safe for disposal. Nuclear waste expert Prof Claire Corkhill from the University of Bristol called the government’s decision “a positive step” that would eventually pave the way for removing the cost and hazard of storing plutonium at Sellafield.
The government is currently at the early stages of a technical and political process of selecting a suitable site to build a deep geological facility that will eventually contain all of the country’s most hazardous radioactive waste. The facility will not be operational until at least 2050
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