N-Base Briefing 414


N-Base Briefing 414
1st May 2004

ISSN 1478-4661

Worker exposed

Regulators are investigating an incident at Dounreay in which a worker inhaled potentially lethal plutonium. Head of safety Guy Owen said the worker's intake involved a lifetime dose of 8.6 milleSiverts.

Run of accidents

Work decommissioning the former Prototype Fast Reactor at Dounreay was suspended a month ago following a series of four accidents. One accident involved a spill of 100 litres of contaminated liquid while the other three were industrial accidents - in one workers fled to safety as 40 scaffolding poles fell 30 metres from an overhead crane. UKAEA and regulators are investigating safety at the project.

New protocol

A new UK nuclear safeguards protocol came into force on 1st May. The protocol, agreed with Euratom, involves providing the International Atomic Energy Agency will additional information on nuclear activities. Full details at www.dti.dti.gov.uk/non-proliferation/ukso/

Near misses

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that there have been six breaches of 'no-fly-zones' around nuclear reactors in the past three years. An aircraft entered the 'no-fly-zone' around the Chapelcross, Torness and Dungeness reactors and the zone around the Berkeley reactor was breached on three occasions.

Vulcan hopes

The head of HMS Vulcan, Commander Charles Hume, told the Dounreay Local Liaison Committee this week that he was hopeful of the Ministry of Defence shore station remaining open after present work ends in about 10 years. The naval base is operated by Rolls Royce and has a fully operational submarine reactor used for tests for the UK's Astute and Vanguard class vessels. Commander Hume said they hoped to get new contracts when the present one ends.

Shut for months

The Sizewell A nuclear reactor will be shut for several months due to a major fault in a transformer. The shutdown will cost the operator, British Nuclear Fuels, hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

Particle find

A radioactive particle was found this week on the Sandside beach near Dounreay.

Call to check submarines

Greenpeace has called for safety checks on all 12 of the UK's Trafalgar and Swiftsure nuclear submarines after 11 sailors refused to sail with HMS Trafalgar over safety worries.

Nuclear work continues

The Government has said it will keep the option of new nuclear power reactors open, with research and design work continuing, although economically nuclear power continued to be 'unattractive'.

Winfrith decommissioning

The UKAEA has announced that the Winfrith nuclear complex will be decommissioned by 2020 - 30 years earlier than originally planned. The UKAEA said the earlier deadline was possible because of Government funding changes.

Union meeting

Sellafield trades union representatives last week held a meeting with energy minister Stephen Timms. The topics under discussion included the Thorp reprocessing plant and the new nuclear Decommissioning Authority.