UK Gambles On New £6bn MOX Plant (more madness)

The Government is preparing to announce the construction of a new multi-billion pound nuclear fuel plant at Sellafield just weeks after an identical facility had to be closed because it was unfit for purpose.

Officials have advised ministers to reject a "third way" of dealing with Britain's civil plutonium stockpile – the biggest in the world – and forge ahead with a second mixed oxide (Mox) fuel plant at Sellafield costing up to £6bn.

Independent scientists have suggested that instead of building an expensive new Mox plant to deal with the plutonium stockpile, Sellafield could use its existing plant to make inexpensive, low-grade Mox fuel that could be buried underground rather than being burned in nuclear reactors.

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