THE UK is planning to send 1800 tonnes of uranium-contaminated waste for processing in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan in central Asia. Though the move is fiercely opposed by environmental groups, the companies are expecting approval for the plan within weeks, 快猫短视频 has uncovered.
The material, which is owned by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL), is being stored in 10,600 drums at the Springfields reactor fuel manufacturing plant near Preston in north-west England. The waste is mainly graphite left over from 50 years of making fuel for the UK鈥檚 Magnox first-generation reactors. It is too radioactive to be disposed off at the local landfill site, Clifton Marsh, because it is mixed with about 40 tonnes of uranium.
So BNFL has opted to send it to the Kara Balta uranium mining and processing facility in northern Kyrgyzstan, 60 kilometres west of the capital, Bishkek. Kara Balta is one of the few plants capable of separating the uranium from the graphite, according to BNFL. The uranium will be extracted with acid and returned to the UK for reuse, while the graphite will be disposed of in Kyrgyzstan.
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Pete Roche, a consultant to Greenpeace, says it is morally wrong to send British waste abroad. 鈥淏NFL appears to be using a back-door route to dump UK nuclear waste on an impoverished former Soviet republic,鈥� he adds.
The scheme has also been opposed by a coalition of social and environmental groups in Kyrgyzstan. And while the Kyrgyz prime minister, Nikolai Tanayev, has indicated that his government 鈥渄isapproves鈥� of the project, a commission of experts set up by the government has recommended that the plan should be given the go-ahead.
The shipment is being arranged for BNFL by German company RWE Nukem. 鈥淲e are not aware of any further concerns by Kyrgyz authorities,鈥� a company spokeswoman says. 鈥淩WE Nukem expects the final approvals of the authorities in Kyrgyzstan and Germany within the next weeks.鈥�