Nuclear UK

Nils Bøhmer

Of primary concern on the United Kingdom’s nuclear landscape are the 15 Cold War legacy sites storing high amounts of radioactive waste, including Sellafield, that are to be decommissioned over the next several decades by the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Many of these are still semi-operational as civilian sites that, for example, reprocess nuclear fuel such as Sellafield’s Thorp facility. Of primary international concern is the cleaning up discharges from these NDA managed facilities. With help from Bellona, for instance, Sellafield reduced its discharges of deadly TC-99 by 98 percent. But other remnants of the race for the bomb remain and must be dealt with at NDA site. The country employs 23 nuclear reactors―of the Magnox , Advanced Gas Cooled, and Pressurised Water types―that provide for some 20 percent of its energy.

ARTICLES
frontpageingressimage

Photo: BNFL

[ 29.10.2009 ]
British nuclear build-out to continue at Sellafield – with a little wind power thrown in
A consortium of three international energy companies led by Scotland is paying £70 million for land adjacent to Sellafeild in Northwest England’s Cumbria to build a new nuclear power plant scheduled to begin construction by 2015, British media are reporting.
frontpageingressimage

wikimedia commons

[ 11.06.2009 ]
Worker’s washing up saves UK’s Sizewell A from having to air its dirty nuclear laundry
A nuclear leak over two years ago, which could have caused a major nuclear disaster in Britain, was averted only by a worker’s chance decision to wash some dirty clothes, according to a newly obtained official report released to British media under the Freedom of Information act.
[ 07.06.2009 ]
Sellafeild’s Thorp reprocessing unit to shut down for seven months for planned maintenance
Sellafield’s Thorp reprocessing facility will be shutdown by the site’s operator for seven months for “planned engineering and maintenance” while workers at the site check one of the three evaporators that feed the plants that reprocess spent nuclear fuel, officials said.
All articles for Nuclear UK >>
NEWS
[ 12.09.2006 ] Government steps in to scuttle bid to buy British Nuclear Group, says paper
UK rejects $750m bid for BNG from US engineering giant Fluor

The British government has rejected a £400m ($750m) bid for clean-up company British Nuclear Group Ltd. (BNG) from US engineering and construction firm Fluor Corp, the British newspaper the Independent reported this weekend.

[ 21.12.2005 ]
Working paper 1:2005 - Nuclear Clean-up in Great Britain

The Bellona Working Paper No. 01:2005 /Nuclear Clean-up in Great Britain /aims to give an overview of British thinking in the organisation and planning of the clean-up work at hand. The facilities due to be decommissioned are identified and described, with specific steps of action pointed out in the conclusion that Bellona considers should rank high on the British agenda.

[ 28.10.2003 ]
European Commission takes Britain to court

The European Commission said on October 16th it is taking Britain to court for breaking European Union rules on disposing radioactive waste from a dockyard that refits and refuels nuclear submarines, Reuters reported.

All news for Nuclear UK >>