Reprocessing plant. Nuclear fuel processing plant at night. Located at La Hague, near Cherbourg, this plant is responsible for the reprocessing of fuel and the disposal of all the waste from France's nuclear programme. Fuel is reprocessed rather than simply being stored because nuclear reactions within the uranium fuel produce plutonium. Plutonium can also be used as a fuel but much of it remains unused when the fuel is removed from the reactor. During reprocessing, the fuel casing is stripped from the fuel and stored as waste whilst the plutonium is chemically separated and used to make new fuel elements.