The Sellafield nuclear complex where reprocessing takes place.
Every uranium-fuelled nuclear reactor creates plutonium during routine operation. Every 12-18 months the reactor is shut down, and one quarter of the fuel is discharged, and fresh fuel loaded. The so-called spent fuel consists of plutonium (around 1 percent), uranium (around 96 percent) and so called fission products (highly radioactive waste). A number of countries ship their spent fuel to La Hague (France) or Sellafield (UK) for reprocessing.
This is a complicated and hazardous chemical process that creates a tremendous amount of radioactive waste, much greater in volume than that contained in the original nuclear fuel elements.
Originally developed for chemically extracting the plutonium for use in nuclear weapons, reprocessing facilities were constructed in the US, Soviet Union, the UK and France. During the 1950's and 1960's nuclear power advocates in these countries and others promoted the concept of using plutonium as a fuel for nuclear reactors, with the aim of providing an unlimited source of energy. The concept of the breeder reactor was developed, whereby plutonium would be produced in the reactor, reprocessed and then used as fuel.
However, fast breeder reactor programs were far more limited than planned due to cost, technical problems, and the inherent hazards of the technology. At the same time, the predominant reactor design, based around the US Light Water Reactor, was being built in ever increasing numbers, producing significant amounts of nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel.
Reprocessing is a very uneconomic technology. Countries send nuclear spent fuel for reprocessing to delay having to deal with the nuclear waste themselves - in effect they are dumping their nuclear waste problem onto France, the UK and Russia. Most of the nuclear wastes arising from reprocessing will stay in France, UK and Russia forever.
Reprocessing facilities also release huge quantities of radioactive liquid effluents into the sea and gaseous discharges into the air. The Sellafield and La Hague facilities are the biggest source of radioactive pollution in the European environment.
The radioactive contamination in the sea can be traced as far north as the Arctic. There is an increase in the rate of childhood leukaemia and other radiation linked diseases in the vicinity of both Sellafield and La Hague.
The pigeons at Sellafield are classified as low-level radioactive waste.
The separation of weapons useable plutonium increases the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation.
Technically, it is not very complicated to build a crude nuclear bomb with plutonium from reprocessing. Around five kilograms of plutonium are sufficient to make a nuclear bomb.
Some of the reprocessed plutonium is used to make so-called MOX (Mixed Oxide) fuel which is more dangerous to handle and use than natural uranium fuel. Nevertheless, the stockpile of weapons-usable plutonium from civilian reprocessing keeps growing dramatically since a very small amount of plutonium is used for fuel fabrication.