[ RadSafe ] Sellafield "accident"

[JGinniver at aol.com]

Franz,
 
the first of the two links will take you to the latest press release from  
the British Nuclear Group.  It was not easy to find as its on a new web  site 
and there was no mention or link on the 'old' BNFL web site ( a lucky guess  
with the web site name, its under www.britishnucleargroup.com, turned it up  
after hearing several news reports where the head of the Sellafiled site stated  
categorically that this had been published on the company web site)
 
_http://www.bnfl.com/library/upload/docs/004/2574_1.doc_ 
(http://www.bnfl.com/library/upload/docs/004/2574_1.doc) 
 
The second, although it is from an antinuclear group (I think its Cumbrians  
Opposed to a Radioactive Environment - CORE) does appear (as far as I can 
tell)  to contain some good straightforward facts.
 
_http://www.corecumbria.co.uk/newsapp/pressreleases/pressmain.asp?StrNewsID=21
2_ 
(http://www.corecumbria.co.uk/newsapp/pressreleases/pressmain.asp?StrNewsID=212) 
 
As you can see from the first the company expects to have completed  the 
removal the spilt liquor within the next 4 weeks. The other indicates  that the 
plant could return to service quite quickly on the other accountancy?  tank.  
However I think this is unlikely as I suspect that the UK Nuclear  Regulator 
(the NII, part of the HSE) would require a detailed safety case to  demonstrate 
that the second tank wouldn't fail in the same way as the  first.  
Unfortunately although there is lots of reported comments from the  UK Department of Trade 
and Industry the NII and the Nuclear Decomissioning  Agency who now 'own' 
THORP, I can't find much information on the various web  sites for these agencies 
(although it might just be that I can't find what's  there).
 
Hope this helps,
    Julian