UK plans to bury radioactive plutonium stockpiles

The UK government intends to bury the world's largest stockpile of radioactive plutonium from civilian nuclear reactors. This is stated by The Telegraph newspaper on January 24 with reference to interlocutors in the country's nuclear industry.

It is specified that 140 tons of plutonium, which was extracted during the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel, decided to place in a burial ground.

"The decision to bury plutonium is very foolish and irrational. It is a valuable national resource. Frankly speaking, from the point of view of energy this is pure vandalism," - commented on the decision of the Ministry of Energy interlocutors of the publication from the UK nuclear industry.

Before burial, the substance at the Sellafield nuclear complex will be converted into a safer form. The newspaper notes that plutonium powder is likely to be mixed with liquid glass. The consistency would then be placed in a steel or concrete shell. To accomplish this, a special facility would have to be built in the country.

At the same time, the UK has decided to abandon the use of plutonium to produce MOX fuel, which can be used to operate some types of nuclear reactors. According to The Telegraph, the Labor Party did not approve this project because it requires time, large financial investments and competent specialists.

In addition, it is reported that the risks associated with the long storage of metal stockpiles at Sellafield were foreseen. Part of the complex's storage facilities are outdated and leak contaminated water into the soil every day. The publication notes that Sellafield's management has concealed for several years that some of its computer systems had been compromised by hackers.

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Earlier, on January 16, Dalip Singh, deputy national security adviser to the U.S. president for international economic affairs, said that the risk of disruptions in the production of nuclear energy in the United States has arisen because of Russia's decision to limit the supply of enriched uranium.

On January 15, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Jeffrey Pyatt said that the U.S. is still supplied with about 20 percent of nuclear fuel from Russia. He said time is needed to build a non-Russian supply chain for fuel materials.

Before that, on November 19, 2024, Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, an expert and lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation , predicted a rise in uranium prices in the United States under restrictions on its supplies from Russia. In his opinion, the Russian Federation's decision on restrictions is a problem for the United States.