The THORP project

A question asked about the government's justification for proceeding with THORP reprocessing plant (Thermal Oxide reprocessing plant) at BNFL's Sellafield site, (British Nuclear Fuels plc) gave rise to a debate which lasted twelve minutes and which is reported verbatim. The arguments in favour of THORP were largely economic and for the employment THORP provided. Those against did not want Britain to become a dumping ground for nuclear waste. Most of the spent fuels for reprocessing is to come from overseas, much of it from Japan. However the waste products will be returned for permanent storage or disposal to the country of origin. Reprocessing to obtain plutonium for fast breeder reactors was also mentioned. (UK)