Sellafield operators warned over checks on nuclear material
The British Nuclear Group, which runs the controversial Sellafield plant, was today formally warned over the way it records and reports on radioactive material held at the site.
The European Commission revealed a number of serious breaches had occurred in accounting and administration procedures designed to ensure nuclear material is not diverted from declared peaceful uses.
Operators of Sellafield have been given four months to sort the problems.
Ciaran Cuffe, Green Party environment spokesman who travelled to the plant with an Oireachtas committee two months ago, said he was not surprised by the findings.
“It’s a slap on the wrist for BNG, and certainly having been to Sellafield I felt that they should be tightening up security and I’m not surprised by the Commission’s statement,” he said.
“I don’t think enough has been done post 9/11.”
The Dun Laoghaire TD said he was considering a second visit to Sellafield and called on Environment Minister Dick Roche to go to the plant to see its operations first hand.
Under the Euratom Treaty, the EC inspects nuclear companies to ensure they have safeguards in place to prevent radioactive material being diverted from peaceful purposes.
Inspectors insisted today’s warning referred only to the accounting and reporting standards at Sellafield.
The report added that it had no evidence that nuclear material was actually lost or diverted from its intended purpose or that nuclear safety was being compromised.
Inspectors will examine accounting and reporting procedures at Sellafield in several months time to see if standards have been met.
Sellafield, around 100 miles from the Irish coast, is one of the largest nuclear engineering centres in the world, hosting a large array of installations managed by BNG (formerly British Nuclear Fuels Limited).
The controversial mixed oxide plant (MOX) recycles plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, with ships from all over the world travelling up the Irish Sea to Cumbria.
