The Swedish government has granted limited permission for the loading of mixed oxide fuel (MOX) at the three-unit Oskarshamn plant.
The decision paves the way for around 850kg of plutonium - derived from spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from Oskarshamn - to be used in the manufacture of the MOX fuel at BNFL's Sellafield plant in the UK. The SNF results from operations at Oskarshamn between 1975 and 1982. Since 1982, Swedish SNF has been stored directly in the CLAB central storage facility.
The government said that, by allowing Oskarshamn to import the reprocessed fuel, Sweden was taking responsibility for handling waste that it had generated.
OKG, a subsidiary of Sweden's Sydkraft utility, first applied for permission to load MOX at the BWRs four years ago.
