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Mar 19th
Home News Sensitive Materials U.K. Plans Subterranean Plutonium Storage Site
U.K. Plans Subterranean Plutonium Storage Site
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Global Security Newswire, 2 Dec 2011.

Conventional Arms

The United Kingdom intends to transfer some of its 114.8-ton plutonium stockpile to a subterranean storage facility, in part to help secure the material against seizure by terrorists for potential use in a weapon, the Mainichi Daily News reported (see GSN, Nov. 29).

A significant portion of the civilian-grade plutonium would be converted into mixed-oxide fuel for use in nuclear power plants, according to the British Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the nation's Energy and Climate Change Department (see GSN, Oct. 14).

Storage of the British plutonium -- the world's largest excess cache of the material -- costs more than $2.5 billion each year. London in February advised converting the plutonium to MOX fuel, but also floated the possibilities of eliminating the material or holding it pending development of new handling systems.

Under examination is the option of sealing plutonium in concrete for interment hundreds of feet below the Earth's surface; no known procedure exists for fully eliminating the material, the newspaper reported.

Eight kilograms of bomb-ready plutonium is sufficient for use in a weapon, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said (Mainichi Daily News, Dec. 2).

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