Production and destination of British civil plutonium

Barnham, K.W.J.; Hart, David; Nelson, Jenny; Stevens, R. A.

doi:10.1038/317213a0

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Similar data have been made public in the United States 3 . The UK government is now in an anomalous position, having published the military stockpile while refusing to publish similar figures for civil plutonium.…”

Section: Department Ofsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…We believe some calculations we published 15 years ago 3 can help the MOD identify the source. In their early years (1963-72) the UK's civil Magnox reactors produced significant amounts of weaponsgrade plutonium.…”

Section: Department Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of 1,184 obituaries in a three-year period coded for year of publication, sex, age at death, cause of death (if known) and field 3 , women accounted for 49 of 917 (5.3%) in Science and 13 of 267 (4.9%) in Nature; of the 44 commemorated in both journals, two were women. Science carried 3.43 times more obituaries than Nature; but the proportion of women remained constant at about 5% in each journal.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enigma thief stole a very special machine

Hall¹

2000

Nature

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Section: Department Ofsupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Department Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enigma thief stole a very special machine

Hall¹

2000

Nature

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“…"In their early years (1963)(1964)(1965)(1966)(1967)(1968)(1969)(1970)(1971)(1972)) the UK's civil Magnox reactors produced significant amounts of weapons-grade plutonium, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. admitted that they called the weapons-grade plutonium "military" irrespective of origin" [12]. The Pu has been given to the United States in exchange for fissile material for UK military requirements [13]. The follow up system, the AGR would have been attractive for high quality Pu production, too.…”

Section: Historic Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

On a Long Term Strategy for the Success of Nuclear Power

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The current generation of nuclear reactors are evolutionary in design, mostly based on the technology originally designed to power submarines, and dominated by light water reactors. The aims of the Generation IV consortium are driven by sustainability, safety and reliability, economics, and proliferation resistance. The aims are extended here to encompass the ultimate and universal vision for strategic development of energy production, the "perpetuum mobile"-at least as close as possible. We propose to rethink nuclear reactor design with the mission to develop an innovative system which uses no fresh resources and produces no fresh waste during operation as well as generates power safe and reliably in economic way. The results of the innovative simulations presented here demonstrate that, from a theoretical perspective, it is feasible to fulfil the mission through the direct reuse of spent nuclear fuel from currently operating reactors as the fuel for a proposed new reactor. The produced waste is less burdensome than current spent nuclear fuel which is used as feed to the system. However, safety, reliability and operational economics will need to be demonstrated to create the basis for the long term success of nuclear reactors as a major carbon free, sustainable, and applied highly reliable energy source.

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“…"In their early years (1963-72) the UK's civil Magnox reactors produced significant amounts of weapons-grade plutonium… British Nuclear Fuels Ltd … admitted that they called the weapons-grade plutonium "military" irrespective of origin" [10]. The Pu has been given to the United States in exchange for fissile material for UK military requirements [11]. The follow up system, the AGR would have been attractive for high quality Pu production, too.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On a Long Term Strategy for the Success of Nuclear Power

Merk¹,

Litskevich²,

Whittle³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Abstract:The current generation of nuclear reactors are evolutionary in design, mostly based on the technology originally designed to power submarines, and dominated by Light Water Reactors. The aims of the GenIV consortium are driven by sustainability, safety and reliability, economics, and proliferation resistance. The aims are extended here to encompass the ultimate and universal vision for strategic development of energy production, the 'perpetuum mobile' -at least as close as possible. We propose to rethink nuclear reactor design with the mission to develop a system which uses no fresh resources and produces no fresh waste during operation as well as generates power safe and reliably in economic way. The results of the innovative simulations presented here demonstrate that, from a theoretical perspective, it is feasible to fulfil the mission through the reuse of spent nuclear fuel from currently operating reactors as the fuel for a new reactor. The produced waste is less burdensome than current spent nuclear fuel which is used as feed to the system. However, safety, reliability and operational economics will need to be demonstrated to create the basis for the long term success of nuclear reactors as a major carbon free, sustainable, and applied highly reliable energy source.

show abstract

Production and destination of British civil plutonium

Cited by 10 publications

References 5 publications

Enigma thief stole a very special machine

Enigma thief stole a very special machine

On a Long Term Strategy for the Success of Nuclear Power

On a Long Term Strategy for the Success of Nuclear Power

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