Contradicting an official company statement in this week’s Sellafield Newsletter, sources inside Sellafield have confirmed to CORE that the THORP reprocessing plant has been closed down because levels of liquid High Level Wastes (HLW) have reached the upper limit imposed by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) – and not ‘ for routine maintenance ’. It is understood that Magnox reprocessing in B205 has also been closed down
The current build up of dangerous wastes has resulted from BNFL’s inability to successfully operate the Waste Vitrification Plant (WVP) in which HLW is converted to a solid glass form. WVP’s historic poor performance has been heavily criticised by company customers, and NII has repeatedly warned that unless the plant operated satisfactorily, they would order the closure of THORP to prevent further stocks of HLW arising from reprocessing.
A CORE spokesperson said today “ We have already warned customers that this would happen. BNFL can dress it up however they want, but the reality is that in closing THORP themselves, BNFL has simply jumped before being pushed by the NII. It will be several months before the plant can operate again – and only then if the Vitrification plant is up and running. Overseas customers will be furious at this further delay which represents another nail in THORP’s coffin.
BNFL advised overseas customers that their contracts would be completed by March 2005, requiring THORP to reprocess at least 950 tonnes per year. This target will clearly not be met this year by THORP – the fourth year in succession that targets have been missed. None of WVP’s three production lines are currently working and are not expected back into production until next month at the earliest.
Notes: i) In January this year NII issued BNFL with a Specification which required the current HLW stocks (1575m3), held in srorage tanks, to be reduced by annual increments to a buffer stock of around 200m3 by 2015. Stock reduction can only be achieved by vitrification. Effectively, NII’s Specification means that in any year, BNFL can produce no more liquid HLW via reprocessing than they can remove from the storage tanks by vitrification.
ii) In June, CORE published its report ‘BNFL & Reprocessing – The Deception of Customers Continues’ which scrutinised the Company’s reprocessing and vitrification plans. It concluded that WVP’s insufficient production capacity and poor performance would lead to periodic stoppages to THORP and possibly Magnox reprocessing,, resulting in many years delay in completing customers contracts.
iii) As at end August 2001, 366 tonnes had been reprocessed in THORP and 296 tonnes of Magnox fuel in B205 in the financial year. During that period, WVP had produced around 40 cannisters (cans) of vitrified HLW only, significantly fewer than the number required to making the necessary inroads into reducing liquid HLW stocks.