At midday today (11th March 2010), under close police security, one transport flask of High Level Waste (HLW) was delivered by rail from Sellafield to Barrow docks where it was loaded onto the ship Atlantic Osprey for transport to Holland. Departure from Barrow is expected on this evening’s high tide. The HLW, contained in 28 … [Continue Reading]
Security shrouds Sellafield’s first ever High Level Waste shipment
Under a cloak of heavy security, 14 tonnes of vitrified highly radioactive waste was delivered to Barrow’s Ramsden Dock today by rail from Sellafield and loaded onto the nuclear cargo ship Pacific Sandpiper. The shipment is due to leave Barrow on the high tide early tomorrow morning, Thursday 21st January. The glassified High Level Waste … [Continue Reading]
Convicted of breaching Health & Safety Laws, Sellafield Fined £75,000 + Costs
At Carlisle Crown Court today, Sellafield Ltd was fined for a failure to discharge its duty under Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 whereby workers had received internal doses of radiation. At an earlier hearing at Whitehaven Magistrates Court on 24th July 2009 Sellafield Ltd had pleaded guilty to the … [Continue Reading]
Preparations for first ever High Level Waste shipment from Sellafield
More than ten years later than originally scheduled, the first shipment of vitrified High Level Waste (HLW) is expected to be shipped from Sellafield to Japan early in 2010. Sellafield Ltd said yesterday that the first HLW return shipment to Japan was expected to be completed by next in March. Depending on which of three … [Continue Reading]
NDA’s inept decision gives Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) a temporary reprieve
Today’s announcement by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to allow the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) to complete its current MOX fuel manufacturing campaign has been compared by CORE to giving the kiss of life to a corpse. CORE’s spokesman Martin Forwood said “ This is the plant that has lost at least £626M in its short … [Continue Reading]
Dramatic rise to discharge limit sought by Sellafield
Sellafield Ltd is expected to ask the Environment Agency (EA) for an almost 5-fold increase in gas discharge limit for Antimony 125 (Sb-125) so that the Magnox reprocessing plant can continue to operate. Sb-125 has a radioactive half-life of 2.75 years and emits beta radiation. Disclosed in its Quarterly Report to the local West Cumbria … [Continue Reading]
The Port of Sellafield – A hidden agenda paving the way for new build ?
Recent approval by Copeland Borough Council to a Sellafield Ltd application will see large sections of nuclear plant being delivered to the site directly by sea. The planning application, approved by the Council on 20th August, details a programme of work for the construction of a ‘steady incline’ ramp across a section of Sellafield beach, … [Continue Reading]
RWE to abandon two West Cumbrian sites ?
Supporters of the construction of new nuclear power stations at Kirksanton and Braystones, the two West Cumbrian sites nominated earlier this year by German company RWE, could be in for a major disappointment. As reported by Reuters today (10th June), RWE has turned down the chance to buy land suitable for new build at Dungeness … [Continue Reading]
THORP to close for seven months
Despite strenuous denials by Sellafield managers last week in local newspapers that THORP was facing closure, it has now been confirmed that the plant will indeed be closed down shortly for a period of some seven months. Details of plant’s imminent shut-down were given to CORE in a meeting with the NDA, Sellafield Ltd and … [Continue Reading]
THORP – Living on a knife-edge. Future hopes evaporating fast
Sellafield Ltd, the company that operates THORP (Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant) under contract to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), faces the prospect of having to close the plant for an indefinite period because of increasing problems with managing the dangerous liquid high level wastes produced by the site’s reprocessing operations. At the heart of the … [Continue Reading]