LONDON--A British nuclear fuel plant in northwest England announced Aug. 3 it will be shutting its doors because of growing uncertainties about the industry following the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
LONDON--A British nuclear fuel plant in northwest England announced Aug. 3 it will be shutting its doors because of growing uncertainties about the industry following the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
The British Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said the manufacture of mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuel at the Sellafield site, operated by Sellafield Ltd., will be discontinued.
In May last year, 10 Japanese power companies--including Tokyo Electric Power Co. which operates the Fukushima plant--struck a deal with the NDA that would allow plutonium owned by Japan, but held in Britain, to be processed at the Sellafield plant to produce MOX nuclear fuel.
Japan was the only partner with which the NDA had business on MOX nuclear fuel.
"The NDA board has now assessed the changed commercial risk profile for the Sellafield MOX plant arising from potential delays following the earthquake in Japan and subsequent events," the NDA said Aug. 3.
It said it wanted to spare British taxpayers "a future financial burden" resulting from the Sellafield operation.
As a result, it said the "only reasonable course of action is to close" the site at the earliest practical opportunity.
The institution did not give a date for the closure. Local labor unions are protesting the action on grounds that 800 people will lose their jobs.
Plutonium generated by reprocessing spent fuel rods used in Japan has been stored at the Sellafield site.
"The NDA will continue to store Japanese plutonium safely and securely under international safeguards," the NDA said.