MOX fuel is an alternative fuel for nuclear power plants, combining uranium with plutonium. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) classifies MOX fuel as ‘direct-use’ nuclear weapons material. A total of 1,800 kg plutonium – enough to make 225 nuclear weapons – will travel more than 20,000 km overseas to Japan.
Nuclear power reactors normally use low-enriched uranium fuel, a material unsuitable for making nuclear weapons. However, the nuclear power plant operation transforms uranium fuel into a rich, highly-toxic and dangerous cocktail of radioactive elements, including plutonium. Plutonium is the manmade element used in nuclear bombs and is extremely hazardous even in minute quantities, remaining dangerous for about 240,000 years. The nuclear industry has long recognised that the highly radioactive material is a major problem. Nevertheless, it has continued producing more and more of it. The industry started separating plutonium and uranium out from spent fuel (in a process known as reprocessing) initially for use in nuclear weapons, while later the process was adopted for civil purposes.
The intention was to re-use the plutonium as fuel for fast breeder reactors, but this route turned out to be highly problematic and expensive. The Japanese fast-breeder reactor Monju has been shut down since a serious accident in 1995, while the German fast-breeder in Kalkar has been turned into an amusement park.
To avoid the embarrassment of closing the expensive reprocessing plants and to deal with the large stockpiles of plutonium, the industry developed a new justification. The separated plutonium could be used in existing light water reactors in the form of MOX fuel, blending plutonium with uranium. This was also meant to solve the problem of transport after two shipments of pure plutonium from Europe to Japan (in 1984 and 1992) raised large public and political outcry in countries along the route for its extreme radiotoxicity and the associated proliferation risks. The industry hoped the shipments of plutonium in the form of MOX fuel would prove less controversial.
Despite the industry’s efforts, growing concerns about environmental, economic and proliferation risks caused the reprocessing industry to collapse. Countries like Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, the US and Sweden all banned reprocessing. Only France (La Hague), the UK (Sellafield) and Russia (Mayak) currently conduct reprocessing on a commercial scale. Japan proposed building its own reprocessing plant in Rokkasho in 1985, but due to continuing problems the start-up of the plant, originally scheduled for 1998 and after many delays rescheduled for 2008, continues to be delayed.
MOX recycling is a myth:
- Only 39 reactors in the world (less than 10% of the existing 436 nuclear power reactors worldwide) currently have a licence to use MOX as fuel. Though in France 22 of the 58 reactors are licensed to use up to 30% MOX fuel, only half of the allowed volume of MOX fuel is being used.
- Compared to standard uranium fuel, MOX is more complicated and unstable to use, resulting in lower performance and higher safety risks. The quality of MOX fuel cannot meet the expected performance standards
- Though one of the arguments for using MOX is to reduce the plutonium stockpiles, none of these reactors effectively burn up plutonium (a reactor only uses more plutonium than it produces if more than 40% MOX fuel is loaded).
- The economic benefits of using MOX are questionable. Handling plutonium and MOX fuel production are highly expensive because of the high levels of radioactivity involved. Transport costs rise significantly because of extra safety and security requirements.
All in all, burning MOX fuel is a waste of time and money, and presents major security and proliferation challenges.
The plutonium MOX transports prove once again how the nuclear industry’s promises are a dangerous illusion, and how nuclear energy increases insecurity. In brief, it is:
- Unnecessary: The so-called ‘recycling route’ of the nuclear industry is a myth. Reprocessing and the use of MOX do not decrease the plutonium stockpiles, but merely increase the complexity and danger of radioactive waste management.
- Unsafe: There is no evidence that the structural strength and thermal resistance of the containers used for MOX transport are sufficient to withstand possible accident conditions during a transport overseas [8]. Shipboard fires can last much longer (days or even weeks) than the fire duration the containers are tested for. Once the plutonium in the MOX fuel disperses it poses serious public health and environmental risks.
- Insecure: Reprocessing and the use of MOX fuel increase risks of nuclear proliferation. Plutonium in spent nuclear fuel is harder to extract for use in nuclear weapons than separated plutonium and plutonium in MOX fuel. For good reasons the level of security around the MOX transport by ship to Japan is enormous. For unknown reasons the security around the transport to Germany by truck seems limited.
– from greenpeace