West Cumbrian local authority Copeland Borough Council has recently approved BNFL plans to build a concrete protective barrier around the two Sellafield plutonium stores. Buildings B3023 and B3023.1 are used to store plutonium, in dioxide powder form, recovered from the site’s reprocessing operations. The material is contained in triple-layered stainless steel cans. Latest figures from the Government’s Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) show that as at the end of 2002, 86.5 tonnes of the material was in store.
The construction of the concrete barrier is seen as a direct, though belated, response by BNFL to post 9/11 fears of terrorist acts against the stores which were never constructed to withstand the deliberate crashing of civilian aircraft. BNFL has described the work as “part of our ongoing pro-active and responsible security enhancements programme”.
Many observers will consider BNFL’s reaction to potential acts of terrorism to be ‘too little, too late’, particularly since the chronic weaknesses of the plutonium stores were revealed over two years ago. In January 2002, the Observer newspaper reported having sight of a highly confidential report which described the plutonium stores as ‘inadequate buildings’ that needed ‘to be rebuilt’. The report, following a security review board attended by MI5, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and the Atomic Energy Authority, further described the stores as being ‘not much more than a shed’ and unable to resist attack or even a fire.
It is currently unclear why the addition of a blast-proof wall has taken preference over a complete rebuild of the stores. A BNFL spokesperson commented that the company naturally takes a cautious approach in discussing details – as it would compromise the effectiveness of security mechanisms to discuss them in detail.
In a related matter, a joint British, US and Russian initiative has just kicked off at Sellafield where Russian defence officials are assessing a course on preventing terrorists stealing nuclear material. BNFL said that the ultimate aim of the course is to improve the Russians’ first line of defence.
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