Nuclear reprocessing plant gets okay The U.K. should build "without delay" a plant for reprocessing spent uranium oxide fuel coming from thermal nuclear reactors. Moreover, the operation should be large enough to cope not only with material arising from the U.K.'s own civil nuclear power stations, but from elsewhere. At the same time, there should be stringent precautions to minimize risks. This is the nub of a lengthy official report stemming from what has come to be known as "the Windscale Enquiry." Last year's public debate centered on a planning application made by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. to build a plant capable of reprocessing 120,000 metric tons annually of used oxide fuel, twice the level of the U.K.'s requirements (C&EN, July 18, 1977, page 13). If BNFL gets permission to proceed with the thermal oxide reprocessing plant, it will take some 10 years to install and cost about $120 million. The plant would go in at Windscale on England's west coast where BNFL has facilities for storing spent nuclear fuel and reprocessing uranium metal fuel from its network of magnox reactors. The report of Justice Roger Parker, who headed an independent three-man panel that heard the lengthy evidence for and against the project, clearly endorses the scheme. Now, the final decision rests on the outcome of a debate in Parliament. "The conclusions reached by the inspector are persuasive and broadly acceptable," comments Peter Shore, U.K. secretary of state for the environment, who called the hearing in the first place. He reasoned, however, that members of Parliament should "be involved in this major decision" because "this case is unique in the issues it raises," and "decisions reached on reprocessing and storage of nuclear waste will stretch far into the future." The issues are emotive in the extreme. They include hazards that could arise from accidental release of toxic radionuclides, the fear of in-transit plutonium's being hijacked by terrorists, and the specter of nuclear weapons proliferation. Predictably, opponents of the thermal oxide reprocessing plant are critical of Parker's conclusions. Parker makes 16 recommendations to reduce health risks associated with the enterprise. He calls, for example, for improved monitoring procedures, the setting of specific discharge limits for each significant radionuclide, and independent advice on fixing radiological protection standards. "No real assessment of risks can be made," he reasons, "when the design of a project is still at the conceptual stage. It will be for BNFL as designers and operators to develop and conduct the various safety disciplines as the design progresses, and for the [U.K.] Nuclear Installations Inspectorate to ensure that the plant does not operate until they are satisfied that it is safe." D
CHECKOFF NEW PLANTS • Canada—Canadian Industries Ltd. plans total $13.4 million investment in two new plants: $7.4 million nitric acid concentrating plant at Courtright, near Sarnia, Ont., with capacity of 24,000 tons per year of 98% nitric acid, to be completed by mid-1979; and $6 million expansion of T N T at McMasterville, Que., raising capacity from 18 million to 33 million lb per year, to be completed in fall 1978. Nitric acid unit will provide feedstock for TNT. • Czechoslovakia — Mitsubishi Petrochemical Co. has contracted with Techno Export of Czechoslovakia to build for $20 million combined 20,000 metric-ton-per-year acrylic acid and 29,000-ton acrylic esters plant at Soklov, near Prague. Construction is scheduled to begin in 1980 and to take about two years. Technology will be direct-oxidation process developed by Mitsubishi Petrochemical and JGC Corp., Tokyo-based engineering and construction company. • France—Rhône-Poulenc plans major 225,000 metric-ton-per-year acetic acid plant at Pardies in southwest France to be completed in mid-1980. Technology, on license from Monsanto, uses methanol and carbon monoxide as feedstocks. Monsanto will assist in plant design and startup. • India—Indian affiliate of Kinetics Technology International B.V. of Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, has contract from Indian-governmentowned Hindustant Organic Chemicals Ltd. near Bombay for 950 cum-per-hour hydrogen plant to be commissioned in 1980. Process will be catalytic steam reforming of naphtha followed by gas purification. • Senegal—Technip of Paris has $12.7 million contract for 60,000 metric-ton-per-year lime plant at Pout, to be commissioned in March 1980. Contract is from Consortium Africain pour la Fabrication et l'Exploitation de la Chaux (CAFEC). • South Korea—Chemtex Inc., New York City engineering firm, will undertake $12 million rayon plant expansion for Wonjin Rayon Co., near Seoul. Current capacity of 30 metric tons per day of staple and 32.2 metric tons of filament yarn will increase by 50 metric tons of regular viscose rayon staple convertible to 30 metric tons of high-wet-modulus staple fiber.
• Soviet Union—Scientific Design Co. of New York City will provide process engineering and licensing services for 200,000 metric-ton-peryear ethylene oxide plant with ethylene glycol recovery to be built at petrochemical complex in Nishnekamsk on Kama River in Tartar Republic about 600 miles east of Moscow. Prime contractor is Salzgitter Industriebau GmbH of West Germany. Completion is scheduled in early 1981. • West Germany—Construction is under way at Brunsbuettal, near Hamburg, on anthraquinone unit for Schelde Chemie Brunsbuettal GmbH, jointly owned by Bayer of West Germany and Ciba-Geigy of Switzerland. Annual capacity will be up to 15,000 metric tons. Completion is set for 1980. Plant will use novel process, developed by two parent companies, proceeding by catalytic vapor-phase oxidation of naphthalene to naphthaquinone followed by reaction with butadiene and then dehydrogenation. • Yugoslavia—Foster Wheeler's U.K. unit will provide engineering and other services for aromatics complex for ΙΝΑ Rafinerija at Sisak, about 30 miles southeast of Zagreb. To produce unspecified volumes of benzene, toluene, ρ-xylene, and oxylene, the $40 million complex is scheduled for completion in early 1981.
PLANTS COMPLETED • China—Uhde GmbH, part of Hoechst in Dortmund, West Ger many, has turned over 80,000 met ric-ton-per-year vinyl chloride plant to China National Technical Import Corp. of Peking. This is first Chinese plant to produce vinyl chloride from ethylene and uses Hoechst/Goodrich process. Plant follows an acetaldehyde plant completed by Uhde at Shanghai in 1977. • France—Butachimie, joint ven ture of Du Pont and Rhône-Poulenc, has brought on stream 100,000 metric-ton-per-year adiponitrile unit at Chalampé, near Mulhouse. Plant uses Du Pont's cyanation process starting with butadiene. • South Korea—$21 million capacity expansion for polyester draw-twisted filament yarn has started up at Kolon (Polyester) Inc. in Kumi. Capacity has increased from 57 metric tons per day to 90 metric tons. Technology and equipment are from Chemtex, New York City engineering firm.
March 20, 1978 C&EN
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