The quarter four (2019) ONR reports on nuclear installations I have been working through show a release from a sludge storage tank at Sellafield. These are redundant facilities which have been problematic in the past. Here’s the link:
Note the typically nuanced ONR statement saying:
“investigation to date has determined the movement of liquor is not via a known engineered route.”
It adds:
“Monitoring is being conducted on all potential receiving systems across the site including lagoons, active drain trenches and groundwater boreholes.”
Leakage on the Sellafield site when the location of the ‘lost’ material is not tracked is problematic as the Sellafield storm drain system is a nightmare to monitor. Celtic League repeatedly raised with the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate the need for monitoring of storm outfalls (links):
The Quarter four report also lists ‘increased leakage’ from one other Sellafield location the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo.
Image: Obsolete tanks at Sellafield.
Bernard Moffatt
Assistant General Secretary Celtic League (10th April 2020)
