MOX supply and demand

摘要

One of the UK government's conditions for supporting new nuclear power stations was that it would not offer nuclear power a subsidy. Nuclear power, it said, would need to compete with other generation technologies on a level playing field. After all, in a privatised power market, utilities should be free to choose. In fact, simplistic positions like these belie the convoluted and complex relationship between notionally-private utilities and the public sector. The latest issue to emerge is about burning waste plutonium. The government's new recommendation is that it should reuse this material as mixed oxide fuel (MOX) (see pl6). This seems to make sense; the estimated costs to store Plutonium securely for 75 years or so are greater than building and operating a plant to convert it into MOX fuel. And the cost of burying it could be greater still.