The clouded future of the sprawling Sellafield site in northwest England continues to cast doubt upon government plans to invest in further nuclear power facilities.
The UK’s Guardian newspaper has reported that the Health and Safety Executive, which regulates workplace safety, is on the verge of launching a prosecution against British Nuclear Group (BNG) over breaches of safety that have led to the protracted closure of the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria.
The UK government is planning to sell off BNG, along with parent firm BNFL. It is thought by some observers that allowing the private sector access to lucrative waste reprocessing and site clean-up contracts could act as an important precursor to letting deals to build new nuclear plants from scratch.
However the safety problems at Sellafield could yet derail the government’s plans, the Guardian says. Sellafield was the site of Britain’s first civil nuclear plant, and has been a bone of contention ever since, with a number of safety incidents making the headlines over the years since its inauguration in the 1950s.
Although there is no longer a functioning generating plant at Sellafield, it retains the Thorp reprocessing center, currently closed after the leak of hazardous material through a corroded pipe in April 2005. More contentiously still, there is talk that Sellafield may be chosen as the site for a new nuclear station if the government opts for a new tranche of reactors.
This has provoked a furious reaction in Ireland, where there has long been a feeling that nuclear waste from Sellafield is damaging the country’s coastline and marine environment.
The Irish Sunday Business Post newspaper recently reported comments from Dick Roche, Ireland’s environment minister, saying that his government would fight tooth and nail to prevent another reactor being built at Sellafield.
The newspaper report even raised the prospect of international legal action being taken, with Mr Roche apparently saying that when he discussed the issue with the UK’s trade and industry minister Alan Johnson, he received some sympathy to his views.