Warning over stockpiled plutonium

The stockpile of separated plutonium, mainly the by-product of reprocessed spent fuel from power plants across the country, has almost doubled in the past 10 years to more than 100 tonnes - despite the society raising concerns about it nine years ago.

The society has now warned that the potential consequences of an accident or security breach involving the stockpile are so serious that the Government must urgently launch a strategy for its disposal or long-term use.

Professor Geoffrey Boulton, chairman of the report's working group, said: "The status quo of continuing to stockpile separated plutonium without any long-term strategy for its use or disposal is not an acceptable option."

He added: "Furthermore, the stockpile has grown whilst international nuclear proliferation and terrorist threats have increased.

"Just over 6kg of plutonium was used in the bomb which devastated Nagasaki and the UK has many thousands of times that amount. We must take measures to ensure that this very dangerous material does not fall into the wrong hands."

The report recommends that a strategy to manage the UK's stockpile must be a key part of the energy and radioactive waste policies that are currently being developed.

It said that currently the best option would be to convert the plutonium into the most stable and secure form - spent nuclear fuel - by turning it into Mixed Oxide (Mox) and using it as fuel in nuclear reactors.

If the Government decided to build a new generation of nuclear power stations then the entire stockpile could be burnt as Mox fuel in these new reactors, according to the report.

This spent fuel would also be more difficult to steal, because it is more radioactive and therefore harder to handle than plutonium, and more difficult to use in nuclear weapons because it would need to be reprocessed first.