The BNFL press statement today describing the belated introduction of plutonium into the Sellafield MOX plant as being ‘the best possible christmas present’ has been likened by CORE to a christmas cracker joke in the worst possible taste for West Cumbria.
A spokesperson for CORE added:
“ We’ve witnessed today the irreversible contamination of a loss-making plant by a bankrupt and discredited company. No rational person will draw any cheer from this act or from the full operation of a plant which, with its THORP plutonium provider, will shortly be stripped from BNFL and placed as a liability in the Government’s proposed Liabilities Management Agency. “
In their news release, BNFL has confirmed that ‘plutonium bearing material’ was transferred to SMP at 0215 hrs today. Given the company’s keeness to contaminate the plant at the very soonest opportunity to foil any further challenges to its operation, one observer has suggested that 0001 hrs was probably the intended start time, and that SMP is therefore already behind schedule.