Thread: Nuclear plant closed after radioactive flood

Nuclear plant closed after radioactive flood

18:32 09 May 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Paul Marks


Nuclear fuel reprocessing at the UK's Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) at Sellafield in Cumbria has been halted indefinitely after a critical failure in the plant's pipe work. The leak led to 83 cubic metres of a highly radioactive liquor flooding the floor of a vast - but permanently unmanned - processing area.

THORP is designed to extract plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel from around the world so a proportion of it can be reused in power stations. The leaked material comes from near the "front end" of the plant's process and is very highly radioactive. The leaked liquor contained 20 tonnes of plutonium and uranium dissolved in nitric acid.

Nigel Monckton, a spokesman for the British Nuclear Group, which runs Sellafield on behalf of the UK’s nascent Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), says the leak was discovered after a camera-based inspection. The processing area viewed, called a clarification cell, revealed where missing liquor from another part of the process was pooling.

Source and rest of article here

One of the inherent dangers or nuclear generation is what to do with the waste. Partially that problem is addressed with this type of facility which reprocesses the spent fuel to recyle some of the material back into usable fuel for the reactor. However when you have a leak, all of that material will have to be cleaned and disposed of. Finding a geologically stable area isn't always easy for the length of time needed. There are many requirements in addition to being stable such as how porous the area is, how easy it is to control humitidity, and even if there is a possiblity of contaminating aquafiers.

Again we see that we have a long way to go to answer the problems of nuclear power generation and its byproducts. Certainly turning the waste into bombs isn't the answer.

I think a nuclear power source is the stupidest idea ever. Once again (can't think of an example right now but still), humans are messing in something that should just be left alone. Having any Nuclear Power Plants is a danger to everyone and everything around it and with so many other alternatives in getting power, I don't think that it is a necessity to be building these dangerous plants.

Originally Posted by cleft

Nuclear plant closed after radioactive flood

18:32 09 May 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Paul Marks


Nuclear fuel reprocessing at the UK's Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) at Sellafield in Cumbria has been halted indefinitely after a critical failure in the plant's pipe work. The leak led to 83 cubic metres of a highly radioactive liquor flooding the floor of a vast - but permanently unmanned - processing area.

THORP is designed to extract plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel from around the world so a proportion of it can be reused in power stations. The leaked material comes from near the "front end" of the plant's process and is very highly radioactive. The leaked liquor contained 20 tonnes of plutonium and uranium dissolved in nitric acid.

Nigel Monckton, a spokesman for the British Nuclear Group, which runs Sellafield on behalf of the UK’s nascent Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), says the leak was discovered after a camera-based inspection. The processing area viewed, called a clarification cell, revealed where missing liquor from another part of the process was pooling.

Source and rest of article here

One of the inherent dangers or nuclear generation is what to do with the waste. Partially that problem is addressed with this type of facility which reprocesses the spent fuel to recyle some of the material back into usable fuel for the reactor. However when you have a leak, all of that material will have to be cleaned and disposed of. Finding a geologically stable area isn't always easy for the length of time needed. There are many requirements in addition to being stable such as how porous the area is, how easy it is to control humitidity, and even if there is a possiblity of contaminating aquafiers.

Again we see that we have a long way to go to answer the problems of nuclear power generation and its byproducts. Certainly turning the waste into bombs isn't the answer.

Didn't this same thing happen in Japan? This time however t'was not succesful..

Eight years old.

Closed.