MAGNOX North’s Chapelcross site has begun the next phase in its life with the start of final de-fuelling of Reactor 1.
The first fuel element was removed from the reactor core on August 18, beginning the active commissioning of the newly upgraded fuel route. (more…)
Tonnes of radioactive liquid metal - a legacy of the experimental fast reactor programme at Dounreay in Caithness - have been destroyed.
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) said the material was turned into “harmless” salt water.
The water was put through a further process so it could be discharged into the sea. (more…)
Britain has a stockpile of plutonium and uranium that, if converted to fuel, could be worth nearly £160 billion and power three nuclear reactors for 60 years, scientists say.
The future of the stockpile - largely left over from burning fuel - will be decided by ministers over the next year, The Times has learnt. Its value is estimated as the equivalent of 2.6 billion barrels of oil. (more…)
Taxpayers would pick up a tab for hundreds of millions of pounds in the event of a serious security breach at the Cumbria facility. One estimate puts the cost of Britain’s previous nuclear clean-ups at around £83bn.
The winner of the contract, which will last for up to 17 years, is a consortium led by the troubled French firm Areva. It will be responsible for clearing 60 years’ worth of highly toxic nuclear waste. The consortium expects to earn around £50m a year from the deal. (more…)
The credibility of the nuclear industry was shaken last night after the estimated cost of cleaning up Britain’s atomic waste was raised by a further £10bn.
The latest clean-up estimate from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) suggests the commonly accepted figure of £73bn should rise to £83bn. But the agency insisted that £10bn of income from generating and fuel reprocessing plants should also be taken into account. (more…)
BUSINESS is being encouraged to capitalise on the demise of Wales’ nuclear power stations.
The Welsh Assembly Government is working with Magnox North to develop a local supply chain and identify a range of potential opportunities for local businesses.
It is hoped the measures will help businesses raise their game to ensure they have the capacity and capability to benefit from the decommissioning of nuclear power stations in the region. (more…)
The £73 billion cost of decommissioning nuclear power sites could be increased “significantly”, the head of an influential committee of MPs have warned.
Edward Leigh, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee said the cost of work over the next five years had already risen “steeply.” (more…)
Taxpayers are being forced to indemnify the winner of the £7.5bn contract to decommission the highly toxic Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria against an accident because the bidders are based overseas. The preferred consortium will be announced on Friday.
Four consortia are vying for the contract, which could be worth £20bn over its lifetime, including US engineering giants Fluor, Bechtel, Washington Group and CH2M Hill, as well as French nuclear power group Areva and the Japanese firm Toshiba. UK companies Serco and Amec are also members of overseas-led consortia. (more…)
The company faces losses running into millions of pounds if the workforce decides to strike.
The Sellafield Ltd employees will be asked to back their unions’ call for full-scale industrial action.
Yesterday Sellafield’s boss Barry Snelson made a personal plea for the workers not to strike and to consider carefully the damage it could do at a sensitive time. (more…)
WEST Cumbria – and Copeland in particular – is likely to become more dependent than ever on the nuclear industry and we say that in full light of all the on-going efforts to diversify our economy.
So with all the signs pointing to another strike at the area’s biggest employer and economic bread earner – Sellafield – it has to be worrying. (more…)
