BBC reveals security breaches at Sellafield

Nuclear reprocessing plant Sellafield in northwestern England. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, Sabine Vielmo)Nuclear reprocessing plant Sellafield in northwestern England. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, Sabine Vielmo)

The nuclear plant Sellafield in northwest England has too few staff to operate safely, and radioactive materials are stored in plastic bottles, according to a BBC-disclosure. Norway is exposed to at any possible spills.

BBC started investigations after the channel was contacted by a whistleblower, a former senior executive who was worried over the state of the nuclear power station.

He explains to the BBC program Panorama that he biggest fear is a fire at the plant. A fire can lead to a proliferation of radioactive material across Western Europe.

The whistleblower says it varies, but that at a  processing section where there should be at least 60 people to maintain security, there may onlybe  six workers on duty. Panorama shows that there have been 97 security breaches between July 2012 and July 2013.

If  a leak happens, Western and Southern Norway will be suffering. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority has previously made a report about what may happen, if just one percent of the contents of the 21 tanks leaks on a day when the wind blows from the west, towards Norway.

The deposition of cesium-137 will be seven times higher than after Chernobyl, wrote the newspaper Bergens Tidende.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today

 

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