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French recycling of the UK’s atomic waste |
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Monday, 09 June 2008 |
Dear Editor,
The article by D Boggis on French recycling of the UK’s ‘Atomic Waste’ (French News May)
includes gross inaccuracies regarding plutonium and its isotopes. Nuclear ‘waste’ from the UK
or any other power reactors normally contains just 1% plutonium after typical burn-up levels.
A further 2% of ‘spent’ nuclear fuel is in the form of high active fission products such as
strontium and caesium. The remainder of the ‘waste’ (ie, 97%) is uranium oxide, ‘depleted’
in the level of the U-235 isotope and is highly valuable. This material can be recycled as mixed
oxide (Mox) fuel for modern power reactors and will contain low levels of reprocessed
plutonium.
The statement, “Most reactor waste is an isotope of Plutonium -239” is entirely wrong by
a factor of some 99%! Perhaps D Boggis should arrange a visit to Aréva at Cap L’Hague,
Normandy to aquire some basic knowledge of the nuclear industry before he attempts to write
further alarmist articles on the subject?
There is no doubt that France is by far the leading nation for the management of nuclear
power and reprocessing. More than 80% of EDF electricity supplies are from nuclear stations.
Even in 2008, the UK is still generating 80% of its supplies from fossil fuels (coal, gas and
oil) despite all the recent hype over wind power and reducing carbon footprints. Europe
obtains about 35% electricity from nuclear with the industry contributing less than 0.1% of the
overall average radiation dose to the general public.
Yours sincerely,
R E Siddall, Centre
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