sellafield

Looking back at the Windscale nuclear disaster, 50 years on

Posted by bex — 10 October 2007 at 12:18pm - Comments

Today is the official end of the government's nuclear "consultation" (more on that coming soon). It's also the 50th anniversary of the world's second biggest nuclear disaster - at Windscale, now known as Sellafield, in West Cumbria.

Jean McSorley, a nuclear consultant, has written about the disaster in today's Guardian. It's powerful stuff, so I'm posting an extract here:

 

"I opened the gag-port and there it was - a fire at the face of the reactor. I thought: 'Oh dear, now we are in a pickle.'" Those were the words of the late Arthur Wilson, the instrument technician who discovered the Windscale fire on October 10 1957, in No 1 of the twin plutonium piles. It signalled the beginning of the world's second biggest nuclear reactor accident.

Article tagged as: nuclear disasters, nuclear power, reactor safety, sellafield, windscale

Haven't we got enough already - why is more nuclear waste heading our way?

Posted by jossc — 1 October 2007 at 12:56pm - Comments

Despite the close attentions of coastguard ships and helicopters, not to mention an anti-terrorist task force, 30 Greenpeace activists in inflatable boats intercepted a British Nuclear Group ship this morning as it headed towards Sweden to pick up a cargo of nuclear waste. The intense level of protection around the Atlantic Osprey meant that its arrival was only delayed by an hour or so before docking at the nuclear facility at Studsvik, where it will pick up 4.8 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel, due for reprocessing at Sellafield's MAGNOX plant.

Article tagged as: BNG, magnox, nuclear waste, sellafield, sweden

British Nuclear Group court case - transcript and sentence

Last edited 20 November 2006 at 2:28pm
Publication date: 
5 April, 2007
On 16th October 2006, British Nuclear Group, the operator of the massive Sellafield nuclear complex, was in the Crown Court in Carlisle to face sentencing over an accident that led to the shut-down of the THORP spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

The case, brought by the Health and Safety Executive (North West) centred on the events that led up to 83,000 litres of highly radioactive dissolved spent fuel leaking into the area beneath a tank in the reprocessing facility.
Download the report:
Article tagged as: BNG, nuclear accidents, nuclear power, nuclear power plants, reports, sellafield

Greenpeace reaction to Blair's 'nukes back on the agenda' announcement

Last edited 16 May 2006 at 8:00am
16 May, 2006

Reacting to news that Tony Blair is to say in a speech tonight that replacing nuclear power stations is "back on the agenda with a vengeance", Stephen Tindale, Greenpeace's Executive Director, said: "Wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers' money on a ridiculously dangerous and antiquated form of energy is certainly back on the agenda.

"Nuclear power presents a real terrorist threat, costs a stupid amount of money, doesn't help in the fight against climate change and certainly won't plug the energy gap. To put this hazard back on the agenda is recklessly incompetent."

Article tagged as: government, nuclear weapons, press releases, sellafield

THORP reopening - risky and could result in failure

Last edited 20 April 2006 at 8:00am
20 April, 2006

New report says Sellafield plans a 'bodge' as operators face prosecution

One year after a series of alarming errors resulted in 18,000 litres of highly radioactive dissolved spent fuel leaking in the THORP reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Greenpeace has published a report which exposes how the current plan to reopen THORP is an 'engineering 'bodge' which risks compromising safety. The publication comes as it was revealed that the plant's operators will be prosecuted over the accident.

Article tagged as: nuclear, press releases, reprocessing, sellafield

Interim Review: Leak of radioactive liquor in the feed clarification cell at BNG THORP Sellafield

Last edited 20 April 2006 at 8:00am
Publication date: 
20 April, 2006

Review of the management and technical aspects of the failure and its implications for the future of THORP

Summary

Published by nuclear engineers John Large & Associates, this review examines the failure of pipework in the feed clarification cell of the thermal oxide reprocessing plant (THORP) at Sellafield that resulted in closure of the plant in April 2005. Operation of THORP is contracted to the British Nuclear Group (BNG) and owned by the government agency the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

Download the report:
Article tagged as: BNG, NDA, nuclear accidents, nuclear power, radioactivity, reactor safety, reports, sellafield

Nuclear power and terrorism

Last edited 13 January 2006 at 9:00am
Publication date: 
13 January, 2006

Summary

Building more nuclear power stations will dramatically increase the risk of a catastrophic terrorist attack, which could claim millions of lives. This shocking dossier of expert evidence shows how a terrorist strike, targetting dangerous radioactive waste held at the Sellafield nuclear facility in Cumbria, could kill over two million people.

Download the report:
Article tagged as: nuclear accidents, nuclear power, nuclear waste, reactor safety, reports, sellafield, terrorism

Leak forces Sellafield to close

Posted by bex — 13 May 2005 at 8:00am - Comments
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Article tagged as: BNFL, nuclear accidents, nuclear power, reprocessing, sellafield

Greenpeace accuses government of failure to deliver as Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is born

Last edited 31 March 2005 at 9:00am
31 March, 2005

Greenpeace today accused the government of 'squandering an opportunity' to tackle the UK's radioactive decommissioning and clean up problems.

Article tagged as: BNFL, decommissioning, NDA, nuclear power, press releases, radioactive waste, reprocessing, sellafield

EC forces BNFL to clean up dangerous waste

Posted by bex — 31 March 2004 at 9:00am - Comments
Sellafield at dusk

Sellafield, on the coast at Cumbria

Article tagged as: nuclear power, nuclear waste, nuclear weapons, sellafield