By Alan Irving

Published at 15:49, Wednesday, 22 July 2009

THE future of Sellafield’s controversial under-achieving Mox plant which support around 1,000 jobs on the site is still on the line.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority says in its annual report out this week that “on a less positive note the performance of the Sellafield mixed oxide plant (SMP) remains under close scrutiny by the NDA Board.

“The NDA is in the process of examining options for the future of the plant in conjunction with Sellafield Ltd,” reports acting chief executive Richard Waite.

Against a target of eight Mox fuel assemblies, only two had been produced.

Both the Thorp and Magnox reprocessing plants also failed to meet targets.

An NDA spokesman said: “There are three options for SMP: shut it down, refurbish it,or knock it down and build a new plant.”

Copeland MP told a House of Commons energy debate two weeks ago that 5,000 jobs could be created and more than £1 billion of new investment secured if a new plant was built.

Jamie Reed said: “Closing SMP without a replacement facility is not an option – it has under performed but has a use until such time has a new plant is built.”

Mox fuel is a mixture of plutonium and uranium to power modern nuclear reactors and Mr Reed told MPs: “Britain can’t move forward without a Sellafield Mox plant. Plutonium must be seen as an asset.”

Sellafield has the UK’s biggest plutonium stockpile but the Mox plant is still awaiting the all clear for full operation 10 years after being built. The original cost of £500 million has soared to around £2 billion due to delays in discharging contracts.

Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk