Following the discovery last night (30/31 January) of raised levels of radioactivity by an air sampler located at a northern point on Sellafield’s perimeter fence, site operator Sellafield Ltd issued a number of mixed messages this morning 31st January relating to the discovery and which lead to local, national and international anxieties about the scale … [Continue Reading]
Nuclear train in level crossing accident [No 01/14]
A Direct Rail Services (DRS) locomotive hauling an empty nuclear transport wagon collided with a car straddling the level crossing at Silverdale on the Cumbria/Lancashire border at around 1900 hours last night (14th January 2014). The car driver managed to abandon the vehicle before it was struck by the train from Sellafield which carried the … [Continue Reading]
Barrow Nuclear Ships Update [No 06/13]
The decision to scrap one of the current fleet of nuclear cargo ships and assessing options to enlarge the fleet were announced today at the Ramsden Dock Stakeholder meeting at Barrow by International Nuclear Services (INS), the wholly owned subsidiary company of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The committee was told that the Atlantic Osprey … [Continue Reading]
Nothing welcome about Government’s new build deal
The announcement today of the new-build financial deal cobbled together by Government and which guarantees foreign companies a price for electricity that is not only double today’s market price but one that will be guaranteed for up to 40 years, can best be assessed via US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s conundrum on weapons of mass … [Continue Reading]
NuGen or NoGen – the curious case of Cumbria’s confused new-build consortium [No 05/13]
The decline worldwide of the nuclear renaissance may well have reached the shores of West Cumbria as evident by the recent conflicting statements in the media about the future of NuGen’s project to build new reactors adjacent to Sellafield. Launched in 2009, the NuGen consortium comprised of GDF Suez (France), Iberdrola (Spain) and the UK’s … [Continue Reading]
Derailment of empty nuclear transport flasks at Barrow-in-Furness – a further blip on the Japanese waste return programme [No 04/13]
During the process of moving a consignment of three empty High Level Waste flasks from the Barrow docks spur line onto the main railway line (heading for Sellafield), one of the three flasks derailed and a second flask partially derailed. Drawn by two Direst Rail Services locomotives (DRS – a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear … [Continue Reading]
Covert plans to ship Dounreay nuclear fuel to US – contrary to NDA’s publicly stated decision to send it to Sellafield [No 03/13]
Option papers for the long-term management of radioactive material produced and stored at Dounreay were published by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in 2011 and 2012. The material, owned by the NDA, included ‘Exotic Fuels and Nuclear Material’ described as comprising unirradiated plutonium and high enriched uranium fuels and irradiated (spent) high enriched uranium fuel … [Continue Reading]
Sellafield Ltd fined £700,000 for sending LLW to local landfill – largest ever fine for site [No 02/13]
Having pleaded guilty at Workington Magistrates Court, Workington earlier this year to a range of charges brought by the Environment Agency (EA) and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), Sellafield Ltd was today fined £700,000 at Carlisle Crown Court. Handing down the fine for the offences caused by what he described as ‘basic management failures … [Continue Reading]
Radioactive Beach Auction Warning by CORE for Land Agents [No 01/13]
An auction to be held at Workington on 17th April includes the sale of two West Cumbrian Beaches. Held by H&H Land and Property Ltd of Carlisle, the auction consists of 16 Lots currently owned by the Curwen Estate – with Lots 15 and 16 being the beaches at Lowca and Flimby respectively. The former … [Continue Reading]
Magnox reprocessing to 2020 ? NDA hedges its bets on closure date of ageing plant [No 03/12]
Signs that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has little confidence in predicting the closure of Sellafield’s B205 magnox reprocessing plant are evident in documents published by the Authority this week. The Magnox Operating Plan (MOP9) and accompanying Strategy Position Paper reveal how the NDA has been forced into a ‘pick and mix’ approach because of … [Continue Reading]