nuclear-news

Nuclear waste plant ‘leaking 2,100 litres of contaminated water a day’.

The Magnox Swarf Storage Silo is among the most hazardous buildings at Sellafield

Matt Oliver, Industry Editor

A crumbling nuclear waste site in Cumbria is leaking
thousands of litres of radioactive water into the ground every day, a
report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog has warned.

The so-called Magnox Swarf Storage Silo is among the most hazardous buildings at Sellafield, Europe’s largest nuclear site, with work ongoing to transfer its contents
into newer, safer facilities.

But a report published on Wednesday said slow
progress had pushed back an estimated completion date into the late 2050s,
with “significant safety and financial consequences”.

The ageing building sprung a leak in 2019 and is spewing about 2,100 litres of water
into the ground every day, the National Audit Office (NAO) said. However,
due to the extreme hazards involved in accessing the building, engineers
are unable to fix the leak or even determine its exact cause – meaning it
is poised to continue for another 30 years.

Staff shortages on the site had become so bad that it was “increasingly common” for buildings to be temporarily shut down for safety reasons, the NAO found. A spokesman for
Sellafield said the company had grown its workforce from around 11,200 to
12,000 in the past year and expected this problem to fade as new recruits
became fully trained. However, a key issue that remains unresolved is the
fate of the site’s “essential” testing laboratory, which is more than
70 years old and described as being in extremely poor condition.

 Telegraph 23rd Oct 2024,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/10/23/nuclear-waste-leaking-2100-litres-contaminated-water-day/

October 25, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized