Leak at Windscale / Sellafield
d | 09.05.2005 00:53
It appears that a massive leak occured at Winscale / Sellafield on 20 April.
Reviews media reporting of this event.
Reviews media reporting of this event.
Today's Guardian discusses a "Huge radioactive leak closes Thorp nuclear plant" at 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,2763,1479527,00.html.
"A leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, enough to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool, has forced the closure of Sellafield's Thorp reprocessing plant.
The highly dangerous mixture, containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel, has leaked through a fractured pipe into a huge stainless steel chamber which is so radioactive that it is impossible to enter.
Recovering the liquids and fixing the pipes will take months and may require special robots to be built and sophisticated engineering techniques devised to repair the £2.1bn plant.
The leak is not a danger to the public but is likely to be a financial disaster for the taxpayer since income from the Thorp plant, calculated to be more than £1m a day, is supposed to pay for the cleanup of redundant nuclear facilities.
... [article continues].
The Guardian article claims that the leak "was first noticed on April 19 when operators could not account for all the spent fuel that had been dissolved in nitric acid. It was supposed to be travelling through the plant to be measured and separated into uranium, plutonium and waste products in a series of centrifuges. Remote cameras scanning the interior of the plant found the leak."
Web searches show that the issue was covered by local Cumbrian news sources on 23rd April and the BBC website mentions it briefly on 23rd April at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/4476905.stm
At that time we were less than 2 weeks away from the General Election.
I am aware that censorship has been and is being used by Bliar's government to stiffle debate. Examples of censored issues are discussion of the fake ricin plot and the effects of depleted uranium poisoning in Iraq. Was this story censored until after the election?
There are media rumours that Bliar's government is keen to increase the role of nuclear power.
Original local Cumbrian reporting
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=203213
NUKE LEAK AT THORP PLANT
Published on 23/04/2005
By Andrea Thompson
PART of the Sellafield Thorp plant has been closed down following a radioactive leak.
The incident happened in the plant’s feed clarification cell, which holds dissolver fluids while tests are carried out on nuclear material undergoing reprocessing.
Some 750 people are employed on the Thorp plant but Sellafield bosses, who have set up an incident control centre, stressed there is no risk to employees, the local community or the environment as a result of the leak.
But they now have the major headache of how to repair the broken pipe in the highly radioactive containment area.
It happened inside a sealed, secure container and was understood to have been discovered on Wednesday.
The Health and Safety Executive’s nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Installatations Inspectorate, has also confirmed it is not a major incident in terms of worker or public safety.
The leak was discovered by automated monitoring equipment in the highly radioactive feed clarification cell, which is a totally sealed unit with no man access.
Pipework has either fractured or failed, resulting in the leak of radioactive liquid into the specially designed stainless steel cell.
Barry Nelson, managing director of the British Nuclear Group, said in a statement: “Let me reassure people that plant is in a safe and stable state.
“Safety monitoring has confirmed no abnormal activity in air and there has been no impact on our workforce or the environment.
“I have asked for the front end of the plant’s reprocessing operations, including shearing, to be closed down. The plant is in a safe, quiescent state.”
Investigations are being carried out into how and when the failure occurred but Sellafield said all indications are that there has been no release of any material from the cell, which is specifically designed for such eventualities.
Inspectors from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, which has been fully informed of the leak, will also be carrying out their own investigation as to how and why the leak happened.
But a spokesman said that it was not a major incident in terms of worker and public safety.
“Automatic monitoring shows no abnormal radioactive in the area and there has been no indication whatsoever that there has been any radioactivity released either within the plant or the atmosphere. No workers have been affected.”
It is not yet known when the plant can start operating again.
This is interesting
http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=59738&pt=n
(from an Irish site)
"The nationalist SDLP`s General Election candidate in South Down Eddie McGrady, who has campaigned for many years against the Cumbrian plant, welcomed moves to cut discharges of the radionuclide Technetium 99 by 90% from the plant.
However, he said more needed to be done, with an end to reprocessing and Mox production.
"The current situation is hardly reassuring," Mr McGrady said.
"EU Commission inspectors have been denied full access to the Sellafield site and could not find out how much nuclear material is at the Sellafield site, how much plutonium waste lies in the open-air storage facility at Sellafield and when the British authorities will meet EU requirements for safety controls."
And this
http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/health/viewarticle.asp?id=201875
EXPERTS still seem to be baffled over why radiation levels suddenly “spiked” in one of the highly radioactive waste tanks at Sellafield last November.
The issue was raised by the Nuclear Installations site Inspectorate at Sellafield, Peter Watson, to the final meeting of the Sellafield Liaison meeting.
BNFL has been tasked to reduce the volumes of highly active liquid waste stored in cooled and agitated silos at Sellafield. But the meeting also heard that work in turning the waste into a safer solid glass form was being slowed by the fact that only one of three evaporators was working this year.
He said radioactivity levels in one cooling jacket had “spiked” but had cleared after flushing through. But he added: “BNFL need to see a way forward for that tank.”
The tanks hold a mixture of wastes. They have to be kept cooled and stirred to prevent any risks of criticalities (sudden spikes in activity) if too much plutonium settles together.
He said an improvement notice had been served on BNF over how plutonium nitrate was allowed to build up inside a glove box.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,2763,1479527,00.html. "A leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, enough to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool, has forced the closure of Sellafield's Thorp reprocessing plant.
The highly dangerous mixture, containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel, has leaked through a fractured pipe into a huge stainless steel chamber which is so radioactive that it is impossible to enter.
Recovering the liquids and fixing the pipes will take months and may require special robots to be built and sophisticated engineering techniques devised to repair the £2.1bn plant.
The leak is not a danger to the public but is likely to be a financial disaster for the taxpayer since income from the Thorp plant, calculated to be more than £1m a day, is supposed to pay for the cleanup of redundant nuclear facilities.
... [article continues].
The Guardian article claims that the leak "was first noticed on April 19 when operators could not account for all the spent fuel that had been dissolved in nitric acid. It was supposed to be travelling through the plant to be measured and separated into uranium, plutonium and waste products in a series of centrifuges. Remote cameras scanning the interior of the plant found the leak."
Web searches show that the issue was covered by local Cumbrian news sources on 23rd April and the BBC website mentions it briefly on 23rd April at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/4476905.stm At that time we were less than 2 weeks away from the General Election.
I am aware that censorship has been and is being used by Bliar's government to stiffle debate. Examples of censored issues are discussion of the fake ricin plot and the effects of depleted uranium poisoning in Iraq. Was this story censored until after the election?
There are media rumours that Bliar's government is keen to increase the role of nuclear power.
Original local Cumbrian reporting
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=203213 NUKE LEAK AT THORP PLANT
Published on 23/04/2005
By Andrea Thompson
PART of the Sellafield Thorp plant has been closed down following a radioactive leak.
The incident happened in the plant’s feed clarification cell, which holds dissolver fluids while tests are carried out on nuclear material undergoing reprocessing.
Some 750 people are employed on the Thorp plant but Sellafield bosses, who have set up an incident control centre, stressed there is no risk to employees, the local community or the environment as a result of the leak.
But they now have the major headache of how to repair the broken pipe in the highly radioactive containment area.
It happened inside a sealed, secure container and was understood to have been discovered on Wednesday.
The Health and Safety Executive’s nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Installatations Inspectorate, has also confirmed it is not a major incident in terms of worker or public safety.
The leak was discovered by automated monitoring equipment in the highly radioactive feed clarification cell, which is a totally sealed unit with no man access.
Pipework has either fractured or failed, resulting in the leak of radioactive liquid into the specially designed stainless steel cell.
Barry Nelson, managing director of the British Nuclear Group, said in a statement: “Let me reassure people that plant is in a safe and stable state.
“Safety monitoring has confirmed no abnormal activity in air and there has been no impact on our workforce or the environment.
“I have asked for the front end of the plant’s reprocessing operations, including shearing, to be closed down. The plant is in a safe, quiescent state.”
Investigations are being carried out into how and when the failure occurred but Sellafield said all indications are that there has been no release of any material from the cell, which is specifically designed for such eventualities.
Inspectors from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, which has been fully informed of the leak, will also be carrying out their own investigation as to how and why the leak happened.
But a spokesman said that it was not a major incident in terms of worker and public safety.
“Automatic monitoring shows no abnormal radioactive in the area and there has been no indication whatsoever that there has been any radioactivity released either within the plant or the atmosphere. No workers have been affected.”
It is not yet known when the plant can start operating again.
This is interesting
http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=59738&pt=n (from an Irish site)
"The nationalist SDLP`s General Election candidate in South Down Eddie McGrady, who has campaigned for many years against the Cumbrian plant, welcomed moves to cut discharges of the radionuclide Technetium 99 by 90% from the plant.
However, he said more needed to be done, with an end to reprocessing and Mox production.
"The current situation is hardly reassuring," Mr McGrady said.
"EU Commission inspectors have been denied full access to the Sellafield site and could not find out how much nuclear material is at the Sellafield site, how much plutonium waste lies in the open-air storage facility at Sellafield and when the British authorities will meet EU requirements for safety controls."
And this
http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/health/viewarticle.asp?id=201875 EXPERTS still seem to be baffled over why radiation levels suddenly “spiked” in one of the highly radioactive waste tanks at Sellafield last November.
The issue was raised by the Nuclear Installations site Inspectorate at Sellafield, Peter Watson, to the final meeting of the Sellafield Liaison meeting.
BNFL has been tasked to reduce the volumes of highly active liquid waste stored in cooled and agitated silos at Sellafield. But the meeting also heard that work in turning the waste into a safer solid glass form was being slowed by the fact that only one of three evaporators was working this year.
He said radioactivity levels in one cooling jacket had “spiked” but had cleared after flushing through. But he added: “BNFL need to see a way forward for that tank.”
The tanks hold a mixture of wastes. They have to be kept cooled and stirred to prevent any risks of criticalities (sudden spikes in activity) if too much plutonium settles together.
He said an improvement notice had been served on BNF over how plutonium nitrate was allowed to build up inside a glove box.
d
