with problems of the disposal of plutonium reaching alarming heights in us and Russia, Canada has offered to help in its recycling. Both us and Russia have stocks of tonnes of the highly toxic fuel removed from unused weapons. Canada, out of the nuclear arms race for over 30 years now, believes that defunct reactors of the state-owned Ontario Hydro, on the shores of Lake Huron, can be adapted to burn a type of hybrid fuel that includes a small percentage of plutonium.

This technology will burn all the fuel within a few years to generate electricity. The Canadian technology could help in disposing off the excess plutonium fuel in a few years, quicker than the us reactors.

Meanwhile, the us is conducting various feasibility studies on how best to dispose off the fuel.Environmentalists there are of the opinion that mixing the plutonium with a ceramic or glass-like material and burying it in metal canisters, would be a safer alternative.