shut sellafield

[source] Safety procedures at the Sellafield nuclear plant in North-West England need to be tightened up, Nordic MPs will tell its owners at a meeting next month.
The UK authorities have granted permission to resume reprocessing of nuclear waste at the THORP unit,which was closed several years ago because of a radioactive leak.

“Personally, I don’t think that the unit should ever re-open,” said Asmund Kristoffersen MP from Norway, chair of the Nordic Council Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

The Committee discussed the issue on Wednesday during the the Nordic Council’s April meetings in Copenhagen. The controversial THORP unit has aroused strong feelings among Nordic and Irish politicians. The environment ministers of Norway, Ireland, Iceland and Austria recently demanded that it should not be re-opened, for example.

The organisation Lofoten against Sellafield is organising a conference on THORP in Sellafield, 21-22 May. The Nordic Council Environment Committee, headed by chairperson Kristoffersen, will attend. Other participants include the organisation Bellona, MPs and the owners of the Sellafield plant.

BBC says Tuesday 17/4/2007 Energy summit: Everyone who is anyone in the nuclear industry will gather in Budapest, Hungary, as the World Nuclear Association discusses how best to meet the huge surge in demand for nuclear power

Last week I heard Turlough O’Sullivan of IBEC say we in Ireland should look at nuclear and have the debate. Come back when it is safe and have a debate, the fact that international capitalism can’t plan for tomorrow and here comes peak oil is not good enough reason to choose a technology that is not safe nor has a waste disposal solution even though they had 50 years to sort a solution out, sure when is peak uranium?

IBEC said 10/4/2007 With security of supply and energy costs affected by our 90% dependence on imported fossil fuels, and environmental commitments to carbon abatement, Ireland must evaluate all energy technologies that may be used to meet growing demand. As an alternative technology the potential of nuclear energy in Ireland must be debated in an open, informed and timely manner. [Business priorities for the next government pdf page 9]

A statement on incidents at nuclear installations in Britain that meet Ministerial reporting criteria is reported to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Secretary of State for Scotland and is published every quarter by the Health and Safety Executive.

For the period 1 October 2006 to 31 December 2006 there was one incident at Sellafield which met the reporting criteria. This involved a major injury accident ( a broken arm, fractured ulna and crush injuries to the wrist ) to one of British Nuclear Group Sellafield Ltd’s ( BNGSL ) workers whilst maintaining equipment in the Waste Treatment Complex Supercompactor Glovebox Suite on the Sellafield Licensed Site.

For more information visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/quarterly-stat/2006-4.htm

Roche to host nuclear talks in Dublin – RTE

The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, is to meet his counterparts from Iceland, Austria and Norway, along with the German State Secretary for the Environment, at Dublin Castle this morning.

On the agenda are common concerns arising from the trans-boundary implications of nuclear activities, including Britain’s Sellafield nuclear plant.

They will also discuss the use of nuclear energy as the answer to climate change.

–

later today I hope to meet with Lofoten against Sellafield (Norway) in Dublin City, other groups in the area, I can be contacted on mobile 085 711 6466

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor The Independent
Published: 18 March 2007

Safety alarms have been routinely ignored, operating instructions flouted, and safety equipment left broken at the controversial Sellafield nuclear plant, a devastating official inquiry has found.

The inquiry report – one of the most damning ever on a British nuclear installation – condemns “an alarm-tolerant culture”, “long-standing failings in some key safety arrangements” and a “failure to learn from previous events” at the Cumbrian complex.

The accident at the Thorp reprocessing plant – which was disclosed by The Independent on Sunday in 2005 – has kept the plant closed ever since, and was the focus of the investigation.

Some 83,000 litres of highly radioactive liquid leaked at the plant for at least eight months before the spill was detected.

more

THE NRC is the USA has downgraded the safety of the largest nuclear plant in the country. full details from CNN

Regulators in September found that one of Palo Verde’s emergency diesel generators had been inoperative for 18 days.Emergency generators are critically important at nuclear reactors, providing electricity to pumps, valves and control rooms if the main electrical supply fails.

Greenpeace has won its High Court bid to make the UK government re-think its programme to build a new generation of nuclear power stations. The environmental pressure group argued that ministers had not consulted the public enough on the issue.

Greenpeace’s Emma Gibson told Sky News that the consultation on nuclear power had been “seriously flawed”.
[BBC] [greenpeace] [perma news search RSS]

irish examiner reports 

A UK company has won a €400,000 contract to upgrade existing monitoring stations on the east and south-east coast of Ireland.

Data from the stations about nuclear installations abroad will be beamed to a central response unit.

Berthold Technologies Ltd, which beat off competition from seven other firms, will also build seven extra stations.

during the filming of Miss Potter cast members like RENEE ZELLWEGER and EWAN MCGREGOR stayed in a hotel on the grounds of Sellafield nuclear power plant in the north east of England.

In an interview for american television, Renee Zellweger said: “So we were driving along and I remember seeing this really ominous-looking silhouette on the horizon that looked just like Homer Simpson’s place of employment. “And I said, ‘What kind of power plant are you talking about here?” She said her driver went on to describe ‘Sellarsfield’ as the nuclear power plant that leaked.

[source: contactmusic.com & newsandstar.co.uk ]

[source: NorwayPost.no] Norwegian Environmental Minister Helen Bjoernoey is disappointed over the UK authorities’ decision to permit the re-opening of the Thorp nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield.

The British Nuclear Security Authority on Tuesday gave permission to resume the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at the Thorp plant, which was closed down in April 2005, following a serious leak when a pipe burst, causing 83 cubic metres of contaminated liquids to leak into a concrete cell lined with stainless steel.

Bjoernoy will now contact Ireland and Iceland with the aim to mount a joint reaction against the re-opening of the reprocessing plant.

- Thorp ought to have been closed for good. I am disappointed over the fact that British authorities have permitted the re-opening of the plant, the Norwegian Environment Minister says.

- It is disappointing that so little importance has been attached to the interests and views of neighbouring nations like Ireland, Iceland and Norway when the decision to re-open was given, she says.

[source: norway.org.uk ] “The THORP plant should be shut down for good, and I am very disappointed that British authorities have now allowed for the reopening of this plant,” Ms Bjørnøy said. “I have raised this issue on several occations with my UK colleague, and Norway’s view has also been communicated at the prime ministerial level. Concerns over the possible reopening of THORP have also been raised by the Nordic Ministers for the Environment in concert.”

“Neighbouring countries such as Ireland and Norway are very vulnerable to any major discharge of radioactive material from THORP or its associated waste facilities. It is disappointing that UK authorities have attached so little importance to the interests and views of countries like Norway, Ireland and Iceland when making their decision on whether to reopen of the plant or not. I think the time is now ripe for a closer cooperation between these countries in order to secure our interests when important decisions are made in the matter of future operation or shut-down of THORP and related nuclear facilities at Sellafield,” Helen Bjørnøy concluded.