Sellafield Mox nuclear fuel plant to close via guardian.co.uk

• Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 August 2011 14.17 BS

The mixed-oxide fuel plant will be shut as a consequence of the Fukushima incident, with the loss of about 600 jobs

The Mox nuclear fuel plant at Sellafield will be closed on Wednesday afternoon, with the loss of about 600 jobs.

The closure is a consequence of the Fukushima incident in Japan in March, which has closed down much of the nuclear industry there and led to a rethink of nuclear power around the world.

Workers at the plant were told on Wednesday morning that there was “considerable scope” for them to be re-employed in other parts of the Sellafield complex.

It will take several months for the plant to close fully.

The west Cumbrian mixed-oxide fuel plant has cost the taxpayer £1.4bn since it was commissioned in the early 1990s.

The plant, operated by the government-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), was set up to create mixed-oxide fuel for use in nuclear power plants, with its chief customers the Japanese nuclear industry, including the Fukushima complex.

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