New nuclear reactors - more radioactive waste

Map of nuclear Britian

Britain stands at a crossroads in energy policy - with one direction leading towards more nuclear power stations, and the other to the sustainable exploitation of energy from the wind, waves and sun.

The decision should be easy. Renewable energy is affordable, safe and clean and the UK has some of the best resources in Europe. Wind power at sea alone could meet our electricity needs three times over and bring thousands of jobs to the UK. Yet the Government is seriously considering a proposal to build 10 more nuclear power stations.

Research carried out bythe Committe on Radioactive Waste Management shows that he current nuclear programme will produce 1,200 cubic meters of High Level Waste (HLW) containing 50 percent of the radioactivity (that's come from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel from UK reactors). Un-reprocessed spent nuclear fuel, at 8,150 cubic metres, will contain 42 percent of the radioactivity. The remaining 8 percent (353,000 cubic metres) will be Intermediate Level Waste.

CoRWM estimates thata programme of ten new reactors would add another 31,900 cubic meteres of spent nuclear fuel to the inventory. This would be a huge increase in terms of the amount of radioactivity we have to deal with. For all the figures see CoRWM's nuclear waste inventory.

Greenpeace's in-depth briefing produced for the 2001 Energy Review, also estimates the amount of nuclear waste likely to be produced by a new nuclear programme and discusses the untried and untested designs of reactors likely to be proposed.