Thursday, April 19, 2012

Can fast reactors speedily solve plutonium problems?


Can fast reactors speedily solve plutonium problems?

The U.K. is grappling with how to get rid of weapon-grade plutonium and may employ a novel reactor design to consume it.
David Biello 
The U.K. has nearly 100 metric tons of plutonium--dubbed "the element from hell" by some--that it doesn't know what to do with. The island nation does not need the potent powder to construct more nuclear weapons, and spends billions of British pounds to ensure that others don't steal it for that purpose. The unstable element, which will remain radioactive for millennia, is the residue of ill-fated efforts to recycle used nuclear fuel.

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