Sellafield Vitrification should ensure safe storage of waste in the UK for the middle to long term. Construction of the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) was completed in 1997, though justification for the operation of the plant was not achieved until October 2001. Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, is a blend of plutonium and natural uranium or depleted uranium which behaves similarly (though not identically) to the enriched uranium feed for which most nuclear reactors were designed. MOX fuel is an alternative to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors which predominate in nuclear power generation. MOX also
Heysham nuclear power station Heysham nuclear power station Heysham Power Station is a nuclear power station located in Heysham, Lancashire, England, operated by EDF Energy. The site is divided into two separately-managed stations, Heysham 1 and Heysham 2, both with two Reactors of the advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR) type. On 18 October 2010, the British government announced that Heysham was one of the eight sites it considered suitable for future nuclear power stations. On 1 August 2016, Heysham 2's Unit 8 broke the world record for longest continuous operation of a nuclear generator without a shutdown. This record-breaking run exceeds the previous record of