After 7 years of deliberation, Sellafield’s International Nuclear Services (INS) confirmed yesterday (9th June 2009) that the 8 unirradiated MOX fuel assemblies, returned from Japan to Sellafield in disgrace in 2002, will be sent to France for processing at the La Hague plant. The transport is scheduled for around 2014/15. The fuel was fabricated in … [Continue Reading]
Sellafield – A Lost Cause [No 02/09]
Just three months ago, in an embarrassing case of remembering ‘where but not what’, operators of the Low Level Waste repository near Drigg had to resort to place an ad in a local newspaper asking past employees if they could remember what items of nuclear waste they had tumble-tipped into the site’s open trenches way … [Continue Reading]
Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP). Stuck on the road to nowhere [No 01/09]
The poor prognosis for the crippled Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) by its owners the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), in its Plutonium Topic Strategy document of 30th January, is now confirmed by the Guardian Newspaper (17th February) which quotes ‘well placed industry sources’ as saying that there was little chance the plant would stay open. This … [Continue Reading]
4-Month Suspension of UK Spent Fuel Transports on Quality Assurance Issues, and the UK’s First Plutonium Shipment to Europe [No 03/08]
Following the April 2008 edition of the Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) Nuclear Newsletter which referred to ‘quality assurance issues relating to irradiated fuel transport flasks’, a Freedom of Information request was made by CORE to HSE asking for full details. The written response (21st May) revealed that whilst the full extent of the quality … [Continue Reading]
Update. Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) and THORP Reprocessing [No 02/08]
Hard on the heels of Government confirmation that SMP had managed to produce just 5.2 tonnes of MOX fuel in five years of operation comes the admission from operators Sellafield Limited that ‘overall production has fallen behind’ as a result of a continuing production failures. Responding to questions on SMP from CORE, a spokesman for … [Continue Reading]
Major U-turn on THORP reprocessing policy [No 02/07]
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the body that owns Sellafield and the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP), announced on 15th June that it is seeking Government approval to make a major change to the way that the products of reprocessing – principally plutonium – are returned to overseas customers. The plant is currently operated by … [Continue Reading]
Further delay for THORP – Re-opening now unlikely until mid 2007 at the earliest [No 01/07]
British Nuclear Group (BNG) at Sellafield who operate the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has admitted that there will be yet a further delay to the return to full operation of the plant. Following recent confirmation from BNG that, although receiving consent to restart operations from the … [Continue Reading]
Controversial security and safety planning for latest Sellafield MOX shipment [No 03/06]
The 17th November saw the unprecedented use of Cumbria’s main roads for the transport of plutonium fuel (MOX) from Sellafield to Barrow. Arriving at Barrow docks in the early afternoon in a French security vehicle, the heavily escorted MOX transport was routed from Sellafield via the M6 motorway, turning off close to Kendal onto the … [Continue Reading]
Sellafield’s original sea discharge pipelines removed [No 02/06]
British Nuclear Group (BNG) has announced that the project to remove three redundant discharge pipelines from the Irish Sea has been completed with a total of 5702 metres of pipeline removed. The two original 10-inch steel pipelines, laid down in 1949, and a plastic pipeline which was installed in the early 1990’s, stretched some 2 … [Continue Reading]
Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) update [No 01/06]
Like its beleaguered THORP reprocessing plant, closed now for almost one year following a major leak, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) Sellafield’s MOX plant (SMP) similarly faces an increasingly insecure future. Built at a cost of £490M and designed to produce 120 tonnes of Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel each year (utilising around 7 tonnes of … [Continue Reading]