nuclear-news

Improvements required at Sellafield after lead oxide release

 The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has served an improvement notice
on Sellafield Ltd following an incident at the Cumbria site. In April, an
unintentional release of lead oxide was detected at the First Generation
Magnox Storage Pond (FGMSP) facility when workers noticed the degraded
condition of some flexible lead shielding.

Lead shielding sheets are used
across the site to protect workers from potential exposure to radiation.
The coating on the sheets used on the FGMSP skip handling machine had
degraded over time, resulting in lead oxide being released which posed a
potential risk to workers. Further enquiries have identified a number of
other locations across the Sellafield site where degraded flexible lead
shielding sheets caused a risk of lead exposure. Lead oxide is not a
radioactive substance, but can be harmful if ingested, inhaled or absorbed.

 ONR 9th July 2025, https://www.onr.org.uk/news/all-news/2025/07/improvements-required-at-sellafield-after-lead-oxide-release/

July 18, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, UK