Worth Reading

"Management of Separated Plutonium"
The Royal Society
14 pages, February 1998
Price : £12

In late 1996, a Working Group of the Royal Society Scientific Aspects of International Security Group (SAIS) was established by the Royal Society Council to undertake a scoping study on the status of the scientific basis for management of civil plutonium in the UK. The working group is comprised of former industry members, including a former Deputy Chairman of UKAEA and a former Deputy Chief Executive of BNFL, and other scientists. Here are some highlights of the group's stunning critique of the British plutonium policy:

• "The current stockpiling policy should not be maintained without careful study of alternative policies."

• "The present lack of strategic direction for dealing with civil plutonium is disturbing. The Society urges the Government to commission a comprehensive review by independent experts of the options outlined above, covering technical, economic, environmental and security aspects, energy policy issues and taking account of public acceptability and of the opportunity costs of each option."

• "The stockpile of separated civil plutonium at Sellafield poses a greater security threat than would spent fuel".

• "The surest anti-proliferation measure is to stop reprocessing spent fuel and to reduce the quantity of separated plutonium in store."

Refreshing !

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