Material unaccounted for (MUF) figures were published annually from 1977 onwards by UKAEA on behalf of the UK nuclear industry. Changes in the structure of the industry which followed from setting-up the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) meant that figures for 2004/5 and 2005/6 were published, on behalf of the industry, by the then Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). The transfer in April 2007 of operational aspects of the work of the UK Safeguards Office (UKSO) from DTI to the HSE means that the figures for 2006/7 onwards are published, as a matter of routine, on the HSE website.
| Site | Plutonium kg (1) | HEU kg U-235 (2) |
LEU t U (3) |
Natural U t U (3) |
Depleted U t U (3) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dounreay | +0.087 | +1.51 | <+0.001 | NIL | <+0.001 |
| Harwell | +0.003 | <+0.001 | <+0.001 | NIL | <+0.001 |
| Windscale | NIL | NIL | NIL | <-0.001 | NIL |
| Winfrith | +0.030 | NIL | +0.001 | <-0.001 | +0.002 |
| JET (4) | NIL | NIL | NIL | NIL | NIL |
| Sellafield | +0.820 | NIL | -0.577 | +0.014 | -5.83 |
| Capenhurst (Sellafield Ltd) (5) | NIL | +0.004 | +1.51 | -0.11 | -0.01 |
| Springfields | NIL | NIL | +3.28 | +6.24 | -0.97 |
| Chapelcross | NIL | NIL | NIL | NIL | +1.56 |
| Urenco Capenhurst (6) | N/A | NIL | |<------------ (+0.921) ------------>| | ||
+ apparent increase
- apparent decrease
(1) the figures for plutonium are the total amount for all plutonium isotopes.
(2) the figures for high enriched uranium (HEU) are for the uranium 235 content of uranium enriched to above 20% in that isotope.
(3) low enriched uranium (LEU), natural uranium and depleted uranium cannot be used to make explosive devices. The published figures (reported as tonnes of uranium) include these materials for the sake of completeness.
(4) the Joint European Torus at Culham.
(5) operated by Sellafield Ltd for BNFL.
(6) the figure for the Urenco Capenhurst site is a consolidated figure for Enrichment Technology UK Ltd and Urenco (Capenhurst) Ltd.
(7) an apparent gain of 1g Pu was also reported for the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR, the UK’s national low level waste disposal facility), resulting from re-calculation of the mass of a sealed plutonium source used at the site.
Dounreay, Colin Punler 01847 806160
Harwell, Angela Vincent 01235 435234
Windscale Dik Third 01235 431839
Winfrith, Angela Vincent 01235 435234
JET, Chris Carpenter 01235 466601
Sellafield, Ali McKibbin 019467 85839
Springfields, Alan Beauchamp 01772 762841
Sellafield Ltd Capenhurst, Ben Todd 01925 834431
Chapelcross, Nigel Monckton 01925 834853
URENCO Capenhurst, Neil Fagan 0151 473 4240