[ RadSafe ] Significant incident at UK Sellafield Reprocessing Plant

[Jean-Pierre Degrange]

According to the Guardian UK Guardian Newspaper,  a significant incident
recently occurred at the UK Sellafield Reprocessing Plant.

This incident would involve a "leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel
dissolved in concentrated nitric acid", that "forced the closure of
Sellafield's Thorp reprocessing plant".

The liquid leak, "containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel,
has leaked through a fractured pipe into a huge stainless steel chamber
which is so radioactive that it is impossible to enter."

"Recovering the liquids and fixing the pipes will take months and may
require special robots to be built and sophisticated engineering techniques
devised to repair the £2.1bn plant."

The full-length Guardian article may be accessed from the following URL:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,2763,1479527,00.html#article_continue

Jean-Pierre Degrange
CEPN
e-mail: degrange at cepn.asso.fr
WEB: www.cepn.asso.fr
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