Britain is Sending a Huge Nuclear Waste Consignment to America – Why?
A very unusual exchange is about to take place
over the Atlantic. The UK is sending some 700kg of highly enriched
uranium to be disposed of in the US, the largest amount that has ever
been moved out of the country. In return, the US is sending other kinds
of enriched uranium to Europe to help diagnose people with cancer.
The vast majority of the UK’s waste comes from its fleet of nuclear power stations. Most of it is stored at the Sellafield site in north-west England. But the material being sent to the US is a particularly high (weapons usable) grade of enriched uranium that you wouldn’t want to move to Sellafield from its current location at Dounreay in the north of Scotland without building a new storage facility – presumably more expensive than the cost of transportation.
The decision to move this radioactive waste out of the UK has been presented as making it harder for nuclear materials to get into the hands of terrorists, but this is implausible. The UK is capable of managing homegrown highly enriched uranium itself. The plan also contradicts the principle that countries are responsible for managing their own nuclear legacy.
The vast majority of the UK’s waste comes from its fleet of nuclear power stations. Most of it is stored at the Sellafield site in north-west England. But the material being sent to the US is a particularly high (weapons usable) grade of enriched uranium that you wouldn’t want to move to Sellafield from its current location at Dounreay in the north of Scotland without building a new storage facility – presumably more expensive than the cost of transportation.
The decision to move this radioactive waste out of the UK has been presented as making it harder for nuclear materials to get into the hands of terrorists, but this is implausible. The UK is capable of managing homegrown highly enriched uranium itself. The plan also contradicts the principle that countries are responsible for managing their own nuclear legacy.
http://www.theenergycollective.com/sussexnrggroup/2375458/britain-is-sending-a-huge-nuclear-waste-consignment-to-america-why?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The+Energy+Collective+%28all+posts%29
No comments:
Post a Comment