Sellafield a 'Priority' for U.K. Nuclear Regulator

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - The safety of the U.K.'s Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site in Cumbria is to be the key priority for the new independent watchdog, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

The ONR, which became the independent regulator for the U.K.'s nuclear power sector last month, has 'identified Sellafield as its number one regulatory priority' where ongoing delays have hindered the attempts to reduce the 'hazard and risk' onsite. The ONR said that because of the 'many years of slower-than-ideal progress to address hazard reduction' it will now develop a strategy to proactively support the delivery by Sellafield Ltd of its high hazard and risk remediation programmes. These will focus on securing accelerated, safe and secure retrievals from legacy ponds and silos facilities.

Sellafield is a nuclear reprocessing site, near the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, England. It incorporates the original nuclear reactor site at Windscale, which is currently being decommissioned as well as neighbouring Calder Hall, another former nuclear plant which is undergoing decommissioning and dismantling of its four nuclear reactors. Facilities at the site include the THORP nuclear fuel reprocessing plant and the Magnox nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

The cost for cleaning up Sellafield is estimated at a staggering €86 billion ($116 billion) and the decommissioning of old nuclear facilities is expected to take around 100 years. Last month Sellafield Limited (Seascale, Cumbria) celebrated the demolition of the 100th building at the nuclear site since decommissioning began in 2007.

"ONR is committed to facilitating and expediting acceleration of hazard reduction at the Sellafield site, whilst maintaining the highest levels of safety and security," explained Andy Lindley, ONR Deputy Chief Inspector with responsibility for the Sellafield programme. "We have recently changed our regulatory approach to Sellafield, refreshed our team and updated our strategy for the programme, with a view to accelerating hazard and risk reduction on site. There is no simple solution, and we appreciate that it will take time to resolve the complex issues which have led to the current situation and the ongoing delays in hazard and risk reduction. We have outlined our priorities to the site licence company Sellafield Ltd, and we expect them and other stakeholders such as Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)."

Earlier this month, two Sellafield workers were officially cautioned after they carried out unauthorised work that risked exposing themselves and others to increased levels of radiation. The incident occurred in the Highly Active Liquor Evaporation and Storage (HALES) facility at Sellafield, and involved the unauthorised removal of a contaminated malfunctioning resistance thermometer from a High Active Storage Tank pocket during an attempt to repair it.

ONR Inspector, Steve Vinton said: "This is the first time that ONR, as the independent regulator for nuclear safety and security, has issued cautions to individual employees. This should send out a clear signal that ONR takes a serious view of offences of this nature, and underlines the importance of the need for employees to comply and cooperate with their employer's arrangements for health and safety".

The U.K. and Japan recently signed a nuclear cooperation pact. Sellafield Limited in the presence of government ministers from both countries, signed a cooperation agreement with Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated's (TEPCO) (TSE:9501) (Tokyo, Japan), to help Japan clean-up the site of the major Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. For additional information, see May 8, 2014, article - U.K. & Japan Sign Nuclear Clean-up Deal .

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