England's Sellafield MOX Nuclear Fuel Plant to Close

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources Europe (Galway, Ireland)--The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) (Cumbria, England) has announced that the country's only plant for processing plutonium into new fuel for nuclear reactors is to close as a result of the Japanese tsunami. The mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel plant at Sellafield, in Cumbria, will close later this year, eliminating 600 jobs. The plant was set up to create mixed-oxide fuel for use in nuclear power plants, with the Japanese nuclear industry as its chief customer.

Although the closure is a consequence of the Fukushima incident in March, which resulted in the shutdown of Japan's nuclear reactors, the plant has struggled operationally and financially since it was commissioned in 2001. The plant, operated by the government-owned NDA, has cost £1.4 billion ($2 billion) in construction and running costs since construction started in 1996. Thorp, a second reprocessing plant at Sellafield, was closed in 2010 and is in the process of being decommissioned at a cost of £6.5 billion ($9.3 billion).

Tony Fountain, the chief executive of the NDA, told workers "The reason for this is directly related to the tragic events in Japan following the tsunami and its ongoing impact on the power markets. As a consequence, we no longer have a customer for this facility, or funding." He admitted that the plant had suffered "many years of disappointing performance" that have been funded by the taxpayer. He said the key to attempts to save the plant in recent years had been the commitment of Japanese utilities to reusing nuclear fuel, and their support for the U.K. as a "centre of excellence." But with the crisis in the Japanese nuclear industry, that route is no longer viable.

The British government launched a consultation earlier this year into whether the best solution for the largest stocks of civil plutonium worldwide, created by past nuclear power generation and housed at Sellafield and Dounreay, was to reuse it as a fuel. The consultation looked at the possibility of building a new MOX plant at Sellafield, as it would be a cheaper option than using the existing facility, which was beset by operational difficulties in the past. If a second MOX plant goes ahead, it is possible the plutonium could be converted into nuclear fuel and burned in new British reactors designed to take this type of fuel. But this would be contentious, as it would almost certainly be far more expensive to burn MOX fuel than the much cheaper uranium fuel. One of these new reactors will be located at the Sellafield site; the 3,200-megawatt (MW) nuclear plant is due to begin operations in 2023.

The NDA said it "will continue to store Japanese plutonium safely and securely and further develop discussions with the Japanese customers on a responsible approach."

View Plant Profile - 3003964
View Project Report - 300039998

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.