Fukushima puts UK plutonium plans in limbo

Nature : The UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has announced that it will close the Sellafield mixed-oxide facility because of reactor shutdowns in Japan. Sellafield was one of two plants in the world producing mixed oxide nuclear fuel (MOX), which is created by combining uranium with plutonium extracted from either spent reactor fuel or unused nuclear weapons. The plant was to have converted a large portion of the UK’s nuclear stockpile, but MOX production halted several times due to technical failures. In 2010 ten Japanese electrical utilities agreed that they would buy MOX fuel produced from Japanese plutonium stored and processed at the plant. Chubu Electric Power in Nagoya had also agreed to pay for upgrades to Sellafield facilities. TEPCO was to take half of all the Japanese fuel produced. After the nuclear disaster at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant, all but 17 of Japan’s 54 nuclear reactors have shut down, and Sellafield has lost its customers. The plant closure leaves fate of the UK’s plutonium stockpile yet to be determined, and the British government is considering building a new MOX plant, but the question is still a matter of intense debate.