29/09/2014

Britain is facing the dilemma of what to do with its huge stockpile of plutonium, with most of it stored at the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. Should it be turned into nuclear fuel or continue to be stored?

I travelled to America to find if any lessons could be learned from how they are trying to deal with the same issue. My mission was to find out whether plans to turn the UK's plutonium stockpile into energy was as obvious a choice as it sounds.

It was quite some road trip that took me inside one of the most closely guarded parts of Sellafield and across the pond to see how more advanced plans were going in the USA.

I drove east from South Carolina's state capital Columbia and it was not long before the skies darkened ominously. I was engulfed in a torrential thunderstorm. Lightning crackled across the sky and was refracted by every raindrop on my water-filled windscreen. 

Nature seemed keen to remind me of the awesome power of electricity and the very real political storm building up around the Savannah River Site.

'Massive boondongle'

As with all things American, it is huge. The nuclear research and development site covers some 310 sq miles (803 sq km). Sellafield by comparison is just over 2 sq miles (5 sq km).
But we share a problem.

In West Cumbria we have 100 tonnes of highly toxic plutonium. It is the largest civilian stockpile in the world and is a by-product of our nuclear energy programme. It costs a small fortune to keep it safe and out of the wrong hands.

Yet the alternative is expensive too. The UK government is minded to combine it with uranium to produce mixed-oxide fuel (Mox) so it could be reused in the next generation of nuclear power stations.

In the United States they are committed to turning 34 tonnes of military grade plutonium into Mox after signing a deal with Russia in 2000 to decommission some of their nuclear weapons.
Even though their plant is two thirds complete President Barack Obama has halted construction as the project's original price tag of $1bn (£613m) has risen to $7bn (£4.3bn). As one of the critics told me. It's a "massive boondoggle" - Tom Clements of Savannah River Site Watch explains it is an Americanism for anything that has gone spectacularly and expensively pear-shaped.

He warns Britain should keep a close eye on what's been going on Stateside and cites "overspend, mismanagement, and a lack of quality control and properly trained workers "as the hallmarks of a nuclear "debacle".

Dr Clint Wolfe was involved in the negotiations with the Russians and can only see benefits of converting the deadly element into something that cannot be put back into bomb making. As head of Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness he says despite the problems, going for Mox is the right way forward.

Creating jobs

I drive through my town namesake of Jackson. The highway is called Atomic Road and there is a heritage sign laying out the early history of the site. With the air temperature hitting 92F (33C) on the car console it seems ironic in the sweltering heat that this place symbolises the Cold War.

The military complex was created in the 1950s to produce weapons during the age of mutually assured destruction. Whole communities were turfed off the land to make way for the national interest.

Unlike its UK cousin which looms into view as you drive along the West Cumbrian coast, the scale of the US site means without permission you cannot see anything of what goes on beyond the fence.

With such controversy surrounding the place it was never going to be easy to get inside the plant. We were not granted access or an interview.

Instead, I took a trip down to Barnwell. An hour or so drive along the perimeter I find a community proud of the only real employer in the area.

The local bar does not seem to possess a single light bulb above 1 watt. Odd, I thought, considering I was there to talk to the townsfolk about generating electricity. 

We go out into the natural light of a deck overlooking a creek with a resident alligator called Rusty. 

Residents said their future is totally dependent on the President keeping faith with their nuclear facility.

Back in Cumbria jobs are just as important. A new Mox plant comes with the prospect of 6,000 construction jobs and up to 300 skilled workers needed to run it. However a previous Mox plant at Sellafield hit problems and closed in 2011. It was branded an embarrassing failure in British engineering.

Although the next generation of British nuclear power stations will be capable of using Mox, none of the operators have given any signals that they are interested.The head of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Adrian Simper, says it is aware of the problems in the US and mindful of the earlier UK failure to make Mox work.

As for the cost? He can only say that it would cost a "handful of billions" and lots of work still needs to be done on what is a challenging project. We spend £80m a year just to store plutonium so that is not a cheap option either. A difficult choice lies ahead.

Despite three months of asking no UK minister would go on camera to discuss the UK's plans on dealing with our plutonium. A government decision is due next year.

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