N-Base Briefing 423


N-Base Briefing 423
24th July 2004

ISSN 1478-4661

Decommissioning centre

The UKAEA has awarded a contract to the Janetstown Test and Trials Facility, managed by JGC Engineering and Technical Services, to support Dounreay's decommissioning programmes. Among the tasks the facility will undertake is testing ways of removing fuel which is stuck inside the core of the Dounreay Fast Reactor and ways of isolating and emptying the waste shaft.

Submarine site

The former RAF base at Machrihanish has been ruled out as a candidate site for reactor compartments from redundant nuclear submarines. Defence Procurement Minister Lord Back has said the south-west Scotland site was not being considered for reactor storage, but the naval depot at Coulport on Loch Long was a "potentially suitable" site. HMS Vulcan at Dounreay and Sellafield are two other possible sites.

Radiation risks

A report from the Committee Examining Radiation Risks (CERRIE) due to be published later this year is expected to find that the risks from radiation are underestimated. The internationally accepted models for radiation dose risks are said to wrong by factors of between two and 10.

Royal Assent

The Energy Bill, which establishes the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, has been given the Royal Assent. The new Act also allows for the implementation of a single wholesale market for electricity in the UK. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has also announced that the new authority will have a budget of GBP2 billion for its first three years.

Cylinder in place

A new main cylinder has been installed in Dounreay's low-level waste supercompactation plant. Work on compacting steel drums of waste was halted when the original 20 tonne cylinder developed a crack.

Terrorist report

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has published its long- awaited report which assesses the risks of terrorist attacks on nuclear facilities. The report says there is insufficient information available public ally to conclude how successful a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility might be, but adds that nuclear reactors were not built to withstand attacks such as a large aircraft impact. A summary of the report is available at www.parliament.uk/post

MOX subcontracted

British Nuclear Fuels has subcontracted the manufacture of mixed-oxide MOX fuel because of continuing problems at the Sellafield Mox plant. This is the fourth MOX fuel contract BNFL has been forced to subcontract to either Cogema in France for the Belgium company Belgonnucleare.

Train unguarded

A train carrying spent nuclear fuel en route to Sellafield was left unguarded for several days the Government's Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) has revealed in a report. The train was in sidings at Willesden Green when the OCNS inspectors found that 'approved guarding arrangements were not being carried out satisfactorily.'

New company

The Government has set-up a new limited company to hold its shares in the nuclear waste agency Nirex. The object of the changes is to make the agency more independent of the nuclear industry.

Authorisation reviews

The Environment Agency has announced it is review waste disposal authorisations for all six of the British Energy reactors in England and Wales. The reactors are Dungeness B, Hartlepool, Heysham 1, Heysham 2, Hinkley Point B and Sizewell B. Details at www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Plant approved

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate has given approval for the third waste vitrification line at Sellafield to become fully operational.