Recycle don't store nuclear waste - union says
SellafieldA union is calling for radioactive plutonium at a nuclear plant to be recycled into new nuclear fuel instead of stored.
In January the government said it would put 140 tonnes of the hazardous material, currently stored at Sellafield in Cumbria, "beyond reach" making it ready for permanent disposal deep underground.
But the GMB union said plutonium should be considered "a national asset, not a liability".
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DEZNZ) said immobilising the stockpile was the best "long-term solution for cleaning up our nuclear legacy".
Plutonium has been kept at Sellafield for decades.
When spent nuclear fuel is separated into its component parts, one of the products is plutonium.
Successive governments have kept the material to leave open the option to recycle it into new nuclear fuel.
Storing the highly radioactive material in its current form is expensive and difficult and it frequently needs to be repackaged because radiation damages storage containers.
In January the government said the safest, most economically viable solution was to "immobilise" its entire plutonium stockpile.
'Safety and job security'
But GMB official Dan Gow said any decision about the nuclear plant should involve "genuine consultation with workers".
He said Sellafield workers "keep this country safe" and "deserve better than broken promises and short-sighted policies".
"Time and again, promises of engagement have not been kept and that has eroded trust," Mr Gow said.
"The government must listen to the workforce, invest in the region and ensure safety and job security are non-negotiable."
'Safe, permanent disposal'
DESNZ said new nuclear power would play an "important role" in helping the UK achieve "energy security and net zero" while "securing thousands of good, skilled jobs".
"Constructing the UK's first geological disposal facility will provide an internationally recognised safe and permanent disposal of the most hazardous radioactive waste," a spokesperson said.
Three areas are currently being considered by the government to host the nuclear waste disposal site, including two in Cumbria.