The Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) Carlisle Crown Court prosecution against British Nuclear Group (BNG) for the THORP leakage accident in April last year, due for hearing on 7th July, has been put back to the end of August at the earliest.
Last month, at Whitehaven Magistrates court, BNG had pleaded guilty to 3 offences of breaching Sellafield site licence conditions. The Magistrates agreed that because of their limited powers, the case should be referred to the Crown Court where umlimited fines could be imposed.
Also postponed is the restart date for the THORP reprocessing plant at Sellafield. Still undergoing major modifications to the Cell in which 83,000 litres of dissolved reactor fuel and nitric acid leaked from a fractured pipe over a nine month period in 2004/2005, the plant’s new owners the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and its contractors BNG had both cited THORP as re-opening this summer. Yesterday however, BNG confirmed (Guardian newspaper 4th July) that the summer target will not be met and that an Autumn restart, whilst still not definite, is more likely.
At the same time, BNG has published its annual accounts for year 2005/06 which show the company’s profits (before interest, tax and exceptionals) falling by over 30% from the previous year – £108M to £72M
CORE said today ” With THORP still under repair and a string of approvals still required from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, there’s little real chance that the plant will re-open until the end of the year at the earliest”.
With no reprocessing in sight and an overall THORP closure now of at least 18 months, there will be very real concerns about Sellafield’s ability to continue storing reactor fuel dispatched from British Enery’s power stations on a weekly basis.
CORE added ” Despite much of Sellafield’s limited storage capacity having already been taken up as a result of THORP’s extended closure, there is a deafening silence from NDA and BNG as to how to resolve the storage problem which, at worst, will mean restricting power station operation. The Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) Carlisle Crown Court prosecution against British Nuclear Group (BNG) for the THORP leakage accident in April last year, due for hearing on 7th July, has been put back to the end of August at the earliest.
Last month, at Whitehaven Magistrates court, BNG had pleaded guilty to 3 offences of breaching Sellafield site licence conditions. The Magistrates agreed that because of their limited powers, the case should be referred to the Crown Court where umlimited fines could be imposed.
Also postponed is the restart date for the THORP reprocessing plant at Sellafield. Still undergoing major modifications to the Cell in which 83,000 litres of dissolved reactor fuel and nitric acid leaked from a fractured pipe over a nine month period in 2004/2005, the plant’s new owners the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and its contractors BNG had both cited THORP as re-opening this summer. Yesterday however, BNG confirmed (Guardian newspaper 4th July) that the summer target will not be met and that an Autumn restart, whilst still not definite, is more likely.
At the same time, BNG has published its annual accounts for year 2005/06 which show the company’s profits (before interest, tax and exceptionals) falling by over 30% from the previous year – £108M to £72M
CORE said today ” With THORP still under repair and a string of approvals still required from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, there’s little real chance that the plant will re-open until the end of the year at the earliest”.
With no reprocessing in sight and an overall THORP closure now of at least 18 months, there will be very real concerns about Sellafield’s ability to continue storing reactor fuel dispatched from British Enery’s power stations on a weekly basis.
CORE added ” Despite much of Sellafield’s limited storage capacity having already been taken up as a result of THORP’s extended closure, there is a deafening silence from NDA and BNG as to how to resolve the storage problem which, at worst, will mean restricting power station operation.