nuclear-news

Sellafield radiation warning a lesson on nuclear dangers

Sellafield radiation alert is powerful reminder of nuclear dangers  Company has chance to prove wider industry has shunned past secrecy and misinformation for greater safety and transparency Terry Macalister, energy editor theguardian.com, Saturday 1 February 2014 The radiation alert at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria is a powerful reminder of the physical dangers associated with nuclear power, with the event coming at a critical time for the industry.There has to be action when an alarm detects “elevated levels of radioactivity” on the perimeter fence at the north of a site which is home to the world’s largest civil plutonium stockpile.

It now seems that naturally-occurring radon was responsible for triggering the alarms, but the private sector managers were right to keep thousands of non-essential staff at home while they investigated…….The bulk of the Sellafield work now being performed by upwards of 10,000 staff is to reprocess fuel and decommission plants such as the world’s first provider of commercial nuclear power, Calder Hall, as well as look after atomic waste storage ponds and plutonium, the latter a legacy of bomb-making during the cold war………http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jan/31/sellafield-radiation-alert-reminder-nuclear-dangers

February 2, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized