Britain looks to tackle deadly legacy of nuclear power plants

[kristopher]

Britain looks to tackle deadly legacy of nuclear power plants
By Sylvia Pfeifer

Britain is set to tackle a 60-year-old problem that has dogged successive governments: how to resolve the deadly legacy from the country’s first generation of nuclear power plants.

The UK is home to the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium, with more than 100 tonnes of the highly radioactive material.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, whose job it is to look after the plutonium, is preparing to give its recommendation on how the government should deal with the problem, with an announcement expected as early as next month.

In the early days of the UK’s civil nuclear programme some forecast that uranium – used to fuel conventional reactors – would rapidly run out. The UK decided to stockpile plutonium – which is extracted from reprocessed nuclear waste – as an alternative to be used in a new generation of experimental reactors.

However, not only were the forecasts about uranium wrong but the reactors were never built...

Read more at: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8ea1d8d2-b0bc-11e2-9f24-00144feabdc0.html

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Going to have to keep it under lock and key, at least.

Proliferation risk.

[pscot]

2. Unlike atmospheric CO2

this problem can be solved.

[kristopher]

3. "Unlike" isn't accurate

"Unlike atmospheric CO2 this problem can be solved."

Atmospheric CO2 can also be solved; the question in both instances is will they be solved in a timely and permanent manner?

I am pessimistic about either one being handled in a way that common sense tells us is required.