[news & star] NEW warning systems are being introduced to protect the public and workforce if there is a serious radiation incident at Sellafield.

A lower-level siren will sound if nuclear workers have to take shelter on the site, and a telephone hotline will be launched later this year which the public can call to find out what is happening.

The county’s emergency planning officer, David Humphreys, also thinks that another warning system should be investigated: firing maroons (a form of explosive device) or distress rockets across the site to warn of an incident which has caused radioactivity to spread into the local community. more