Minister admits nuclear fuel plant produces almost nothing

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/03/nuclear.energy

Minister admits nuclear fuel plant produces almost nothing

· Question mark over Sellafield Mox site
· Greens dub £470m facility another great failure

Terry Macalister
The Guardian, Monday March 3 2008

A nuclear plant built at a cost of £470m to provide atomic fuel to be used in foreign power stations has produced almost nothing since it was opened six years ago, the government has admitted.

The mixed oxide (Mox) facility at Sellafield in Cumbria - which was opposed by green groups as uneconomic - was originally predicted to have an annual throughput of 120 tonnes of fuel.

The energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, has admitted in response to a parliamentary question that it had managed only 2.6 tonnes in any one 12-month period between 2002 and 2006-07.

In the four years before 2002, the plant had produced annual figures respectively of 2.3 tonnes, 0.3 tonnes, 0 tonnes and 0 tonnes.

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