Nuclear Energy

Firstly, reprocessing does not reduce the total amount of radioactivity to be dealt with. On the
contrary, it increases the total volume of waste to be dealt with because reprocessing additionally
creates a large amount of low-level and medium-level radioactive waste as all the equipment used
in reprocessing becomes radioactive. According to US Department of Energy data, reprocessing
increases the total volume of radioactive waste by a factor of seven! cxvii
Neither does reprocessing reduce the waste disposal costs. The general consensus based on
cost data from Western countries is that reprocessing as a waste management technique is far more
expensive than direct disposal. A study done for the French Prime Minister in 2000 estimated that
reprocessing and plutonium recycle increases the cost of nuclear power by about 0.2 US cents/kWh
(assuming 5 ₣/dollar). cxviii This is primarily because of the enormous capital cost of the reprocessing
facility.
Another major problem with reprocessing is that since it segregates plutonium from the
spent fuel, and this pure plutonium can be used for making nuclear weapons, reprocessing increases
nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism risks. In 1976, the US stopped the reprocessing of spent
fuel because of proliferation concerns. In 2006, the Bush administration announced a new plan to
reprocess spent nuclear fuel in a way that renders the plutonium in it usable for nuclear fuel but not
for nuclear weapons, but the Obama administration scrapped these plans in July 2009. cxix
Finally, reprocessing plants discharge huge quantities of radioactive waste into the sea and
air. The reprocessing plants in Sellafield in UK and La Hague in France are the biggest source of
radioactive pollution in Europe. The radioactive contamination in the sea can be traced as far as the
Arctic and eastern Canada.
Radioactive discharges from Sellafield
This nuclear complex on the coast of north-west England has reprocessing facilities, fuel
fabrication and other installations. It has one of the highest concentrations of radioactive waste on
the planet as well as a disastrous safety record with hundreds of accidents involving the release of
radioactive substances into the environment and their radiation of workers. cxx
The reprocessing plants at Sellafield discharge some 8 million litres of nuclear waste into
the sea each day. cxxi It has been estimated that over 40,000 TBq (trillion becquerels) of cesium-137,
113,000 Tbq of beta emitters and 1,600 TBq of alpha emitters have been discharged into the Irish
Sea since the inception of reprocessing at Sellafield. This means that between 250 and 500
kilograms of plutonium from Sellafield is now adsorbed on sediments on the bed of the Irish Sea.
Discharges of the noxious Technetium-99 (half-life 214,000 years) into the sea have also been very
high. cxxii Radioactive contamination from the Sellafield plant is now reported to have extended
through the Arctic Ocean into the waters of northern Canada. cxxiii
The radioactive pollution from the Sellafield plant has made the Irish Sea one of the most
radioactively contaminated seas in the world. Marine life, in particular algae, plankton, and
crustaceans including lobsters, have absorbed significant amounts of radionuclides, in many cases
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