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Revealed: #Sellafield #nuclear site has leak that could pose risk to public

Safety concerns at #Europe’s most #hazardous plant have caused diplomatic tensions with US, Norway and Ireland

Anna Isaac and Alex Lawson
Tue 5 Dec 2023

"Sellafield, Europe’s most hazardous nuclear site, has a worsening leak from a huge silo of #RadioactiveWaste that could pose a risk to the public, the Guardian can reveal.

"Concerns over safety at the crumbling building, as well as cracks in a reservoir of toxic sludge known as B30, have caused diplomatic tensions with countries including the US, Norway and Ireland, which fear Sellafield has failed to get a grip of the problems.

"The leak of radioactive liquid from one of the 'highest nuclear hazards in the UK' – a decaying building at the vast Cumbrian site known as the Magnox swarf storage Silo (MSSS) – is likely to continue to 2050. That could have 'potentially significant consequences' if it gathers pace, risking contaminating #groundwater, according to an official document.

"Cracks have also developed in the concrete and asphalt skin covering the huge pond containing decades of nuclear sludge, part of a catalogue of safety problems at the site.

"These concerns have emerged in #NuclearLeaks, a year-long #Guardian investigation into problems spanning cyber #hacking, #radioactivecontamination and toxic #workplace culture at the vast nuclear dump.

"Sellafield, a sprawling 6 sq km (2 sq mile) site on the Cumbrian coast employing 11,000 people, stores and treats nuclear waste from weapons programmes and nuclear power generation, and is the largest such facility in Europe."

#NoNukes #NoWar