THE Scottish Environment Protection Agency has ordered the Dounreay
nuclear plant in Caithness to return foreign waste to its countries of origin
鈥渁s soon as practicable鈥�.
Dounreay鈥檚 policy is to return waste within 25 years, although none has gone
back since reprocessing foreign fuel started in the 1970s. But after a public
hearing in Inverness last week, the agency鈥檚 board decided that any waste from
the reprocessing of spent fuel from foreign research reactors should be returned
鈥渧ery much earlier than 25 years鈥� after it had been received.