Hear this podcast: BRITAIN’S PLUTONIUM MOUNTAIN
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION RADIO 4TRANSCRIPT OF “FILE ON 4” – “BRITAIN’S PLUTONIUM MOUNTAIN” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/19_02_13_fo4_britainsplutoniummountain.pdf
CURRENT AFFAIRS GROUP
TRANSMISSION: 24th February 2013
REPORTER: Rob Broomby
PRODUCER: Ian Muir-Cochrane
EDITOR: David Ross
PROGRAMME NUMBER: 13VQ5159LH0 Britain has accumulated the biggest stockpile of civil plutonium in the world, a target for terrorists and future bomb-makers. What was once thought to be a valued asset is now a costly liability. The Government faces a dilemma. Should it try to turn the stuff into nuclear fuel at huge cost or write off the plutonium altogether?Previous attempts to deal with the problem went disastrously wrong, costing the taxpayer more than a billion pounds. Tonight File on 4 investigates what’s been called one of the most embarrassing failures in British industrial history. And now MP’s are worried taxpayers could be asked to pay up again…….
it’s a potential terrorism target. One expert told us Britain’s plutonium stockpile was enough to make ten thousand nuclear weapons. File on 4 has learned that simply keeping the plutonium safe and secure for the coming century will cost us around £80 million a year…..
BROOMBY: The problem grew when British Nuclear Fuels, which ran the Sellafield site, realised it could make money by taking in more dangerous nuclear waste from abroad and separating out the plutonium. BNFL was paid handsomely for the job. The problem is none of the foreign owners, mainly Germany and Japan, have shown much practical interest in having it back. File on 4 has learnt that the
amount of foreign plutonium in Britain has now reached 28 tons – that’s about a quarter of the entire stockpile. The owners of the site may be struggling to find ways to use or get rid of it, but they are still producing it in large quantities.
ACTUALITY AT THORPE REPROCESSING PLANT…. So whilst one arm of the NDA is looking for ways to get rid of the bomb- usable material, the other is churning it out on a daily basis……
MCKERRON: It’s fair to say that at least a major part of the reason why we recommended a repository is that that seemed to us to be the best protection to the far distant future generations who will have had no benefit from nuclear power and who might suffer some serious risk of radioactive contamination in the future…….
No comments yet.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
Leave a comment