Multibillion pound plant at Sellafield would convert UK's nuclear power plant residue into fuel
General Electric set out proposals on Wednesday to build a new nuclear reactor at Sellafield that would convert the UK's stockpile of radioactive plutonium into electricity.
The multibillion pound project would take plutonium – the residue from the UK's nuclear power plants – and use it as fuel for a 600MW reactor that could provide power for 750,000 homes, according to GE Hitachi.
The company's "Prism" reactor has been in use for more than 30 years in the US, but if the new plant goes ahead it would be the first such plant in private operation outside the US.
However, the government has still not decided which option it prefers for dealing with the UK's plutonium – others include long-term storage, converting it for use in a thorium reactor or building a new mixed oxide fuel ('mox') processing plant – and GE's proposal is likely to face competition. Ministers have been increasingly talking about the future of the stockpile, which costs about £2bn a year to maintain, and some in government want the plutonium to be classed as an asset rather than a liability.
Sir David King, former chief scientific adviser, urged ministers earlier this year to find a use for the stockpile. A government decision is expected "shortly", but no firm date has yet been set.
Some nuclear experts contacted by the Guardian were sceptical of GE's proposals, pointing out that the company had provided little data on which to assess its credibility as a solution to the UK's plutonium stockpile, and that government-sponsored research into the available options had suggested that a mixed oxide plant was the best use.
The Prism reactor works by taking the existing plutonium oxide powder in cans, and converting it to metal. That metal is in turn converted into an alloy and mixed with uranium and zirconium, which is put into a fuel bundle and used in a fission reactor. After the fuel is spent, the waste product that is left would be safer than plutonium in the form in which the UK stores it today, because it would be less liable to be used in weapons and would be more easily stored, the company said.
"The waste is much the same as that produced by new light water reactors," said Eric Loewen, chief engineer on the Prism project.
The new plant could be built on Sellafield property. There would also be enough room to construct a separate new nuclear power plant, as one of the newbuild reactors that the government wants to see built.
GE would not say how much the plant would be likely to cost, or how much profit it could make, but said the investment would be "multibillion" if it went ahead.
One alternative is to convert the plutonium into fuel that could be used for a thorium-based plant. Thorium was explored several decades ago as an alternative to current reactors until the research was discontinued, but some experts believe it could provide a safer, cleaner and more environmentally friendly alternative to current nuclear designs.
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