Nuclear waste "to help in cancer fight"

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The UK waste will come from the Dounreay facility in Caithness

David Cameron is to announce plans for the largest ever shipment of nuclear waste from the UK to the US.

In return, the US will send a different type of used uranium to Europe where it will be used to help diagnose cancer.

The prime minister will make the announcement in Washington at a summit on civil nuclear security.

The BBC’s James Landale said the PM’s aim was to show that it is possible to think differently about how to dispose of nuclear waste.

One British official, he added, described the agreement as a landmark win-win deal.

Mr Cameron, who will travel to the US after holding crisis talks in Downing Street on the future of the UK steel industry, will tell world leaders that Britain will transport 700kg of highly enriched uranium to the US from the Dounreay storage facility in Scotland.

Officials said this would be the largest ever such movement of nuclear waste, which the US has more capacity to store and process.

In return, a different form of used uranium will be transported from America to the European Atomic Energy agency (Euratom) where it will be turned into radio isotopes that are used to detect and diagnose cancer.

At the fourth Nuclear Security summit, to be chaired by US President Barack Obama, Mr Cameron will also announce Britain and the US are to hold a joint exercise to test both countries’ ability to prevent cyber attacks on their nuclear stations and waste facilities.

The prime minister will offer British expertise to countries including Japan, Turkey, South Korea and Argentina which have asked for advice on how best to protect their nuclear plants.

And he will commit £10m to be spent on civil nuclear security worldwide.

During the biennial summit, first held in 2010, heads of government will also consider their response to the nightmare scenario of terrorists creating and using a dirty bomb.

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Nuclear waste "to help in cancer fight"
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