The plutonium is stored in vaults as small specially shaped pieces to prevent a build-up of neutrons which could cause an explosion. The recovered uranium is depleted in uranium-235 and requires enrichment before use as a fuel. At Sellafield millions of litres of effluent carrying plutonium and other transuranic elements and fission products are discharged daily into the Irish Sea. Plutonium has become absorbed on seabed silt which is washed on to nearby beaches making them dangerously radioactive. Ocean currents carry radioactive waste as far away as the Scandinavian coast.
Cumbrian people have more plutonium in their bones than any other people.
The nuclear industry had planned to operate breeder reactors commercially by the 1990s. It has failed to happen and is unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future. This removes any commercial justification for reprocessing. Some plutonium is used with uranium in 'mixed oxide' fuel in conventional reactors. However, plutonium from reprocessing is three times more costly than uranium.