Largest civil stockpile of plutonium
- Who
- Sellafield
- What
- 126 tonne(s)/metric ton(s)
- Where
- United Kingdom
- When
- September 2016
As of 2016, the UK holds around 126 tonnes of plutonium – of which 23 tonnes is owned by other nations. This stockpile has been growing since the 1950s, as a by-product of uranium used in nuclear reactors. The plutonium is stored at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria in powdered form and kept within steel and aluminium containers.
It takes around 5–10 kg of plutonium to make a nuclear weapon.