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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/04/sellafield-money-europe-toxic-nuclear-site-cumbria-safety>
"Ministers who visit Sellafield for the first time are left with no illusions
about the challenge at Europe’s most toxic nuclear site.
One former UK secretary of state described it as a “bottomless pit of hell,
money and despair”, which sucked up so much cash that it drowned out many other
projects the economy could otherwise benefit from.
For workers, it is a place of fascination and fear.
“Entering Sellafield is like arriving in another world: it’s like nuclear
Narnia,” according to one senior employee. “Except you don’t go through a
cupboard, you go through checkpoints while police patrol with guns.” Others
call it nuclear Disneyland.
Sellafield, a huge nuclear dump on the Cumbrian coast in north-west England,
covers more than 6 sq km (2 sq miles). It dates to the cold war arms race, and
was the original site for the development of nuclear weapons in the UK in 1947,
manufacturing plutonium. It was home to the world’s first full-scale commercial
nuclear power station, Calder Hall, which was commissioned in 1956 and ceased
generating electricity in 2003.
It has been at the centre of disaster and controversy, including the Windscale
fire of 1957. The blaze was considered one of the worst nuclear incidents in
Europe at the time, and carried a plume of toxic smoke across to the continent.
The milk from cows on 200 sq miles of Cumbrian farmland was condemned as
radioactive.
Sellafield began receiving radioactive waste for disposal in 1959, and has
since taken thousands of tons of material, from spent fuel rods to scrap metal,
which is stored in concrete silos, artificial ponds and sealed buildings. A
constant programme of work is required to keep its crumbling buildings safe and
create new facilities to contain the toxic waste. The site is expected to be in
operation until at least 2130."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
