SPENT FUEL AND PLUTONIUM POLICIES IN WESTERN-EUROPE - THE NONNUCLEAR WEAPON STATES

Spent nuclear fuel from most commercial reactors in Western Europe is reprocessed at Sellafield in the UK and La Hague and Marcoule in France. One-third of the fuel to be processed over the next decade at the British and French sites will be from other European countries. To deal with the fuel new reprocessing capacity will be brought into operation. This is happening just as reprocessing is being questioned. Having tried to sidestep the problem of spent fuel management by signing reprocessing contracts, electric utilities are now faced with two problems: how to deal with the products of reprocessing (especially plutonium); and how to make future provision for spent fuel storage.