BNFL to close Sellafield reprocessing facility

British Nuclear Fuels is reportedly planning to close the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield before the end of this decade.

Reports in the British media today said the company was planning to convert the Thorp reprocessing facility at Sellafield into a nuclear waste disposal plant.

The STG£1.8bn facility, which was used to produce plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel, was opened just nine years ago.

In the intervening period, the plant produced 75 tonnes of plutonium and 3,336 tonnes of uranium, all of which is stored at Sellafield with no obvious use.

BNFL said it believed there was STG£30bn worth of clean-up work to be done at Sellafield and it had decided to switch its focus from reprocessing to waste disposal.

The Thorp (thermal oxide reprocessing plant) facility was originally hailed as the saviour of the British nuclear industry with its promise of producing limitless electricity throughout the 21st century.