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Excellent 2 minute video by Radiation Free Lakeland

Marianne Birkby of Radiation Free Lakeland explains that Springfields near Preston, UK, makes nuclear fuel for the entire UK, as well as Japan, Finland, and the USA. It does uranium conversion (to uranium hexafluoride, i.e., hex, as well.) She points out that John Gofman, who worked with the Manhattan Project, called nuclear power licensed, premeditated, murder, and wonders how many more Fukushimas will it take until people say enough! She also discusses the dangers of MOX.

“Springfields was the worlds first nuclear fuel manufacturer and makes nuclear fuel (and converts uranium) for many countries worldwide including Japan.  We believe it is no accident that Springfields and Toshiba/Westinghouse’s key role in Fukushima (and Windscale and other nuclear catastrophes) goes well under the radar.  That silence takes a lot of effort from vested interests.“. https://mariannewildart.wordpress.com/2017/03/10/tomorrow-we-stand-at-springfields-the-birthplace-of-the-nuclear-nightmare-to-remember-fukshima/

Note that Westinghouse is majority owned by Japan’s Toshiba.

“Springfields is a nuclear fuel production installation in Salwick, near Preston in Lancashire, England (grid reference SD468315). The site is operated by Springfields Fuels Limited, under the management of Westinghouse Electric UK Limited, although since its conversion from a munitions factory in 1946 it has been operated and managed by a number of different organisations including the UK Atomic Energy Authority and British Nuclear Fuels.[2] Fuel products are produced for the UK’s nuclear power stations and for international customers.

Activities on the site

The site has been making nuclear fuels since the mid-1940s. The site is notable for being the first nuclear plant in the world to produce fuel for a commercial power station (Calder Hall).[2]

The four main activities carried out on the site are:
* Production of oxide fuels for advanced gas-cooled and light water reactors, as well as intermediate fuel products (uranium dioxide powders, granules, and pellets)
* Production of uranium hexafluoride, or “hex”
* Processing of fuel-cycle residues
* Decommissioning and demolition of redundant plants and buildings[2]

Future of the plant

Manufacture is scheduled to continue until 2023. Decommissioning activities have so far resulted in 87 buildings on the site having been fully demolished.[3]
References
1. “The Manufacturer”. BNFL UK Fuel Business, Heart of the furnace. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
2. a b c “Westinghouse”. Westinghouse website on nuclear sites. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
3. “Nuclear Decommissioning Agency”. Decommissioning at Springfields site. Retrieved 16 December 2011.” Creative Commons-BY: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfields

“After the uranium ore concentrate is produced at the mill (where it becomes uranium oxide or “yellow cake”), it is packaged in 55 gallon drums and sent to the uranium conversion plant. At the conversion facility, the yellow cake is processed and is then reacted with fluorine to create uranium hexafluoride (UF6). Uranium, in the chemical form of UF6, is suitable for use in enrichment operations and is the desired product. The UF6 exits the process as a gas which is then cooled to a liquid and drained into 14-ton storage and transport cylinders. As the UF6 cools over the course of five days, it transitions from a liquid to a solid. The cylinder, with UF6 in the solid form, can then be shipped to an enrichment plant.” https://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/ur-conversion.html