N-Base Briefing 183

N-BASE BRIEFING 183 - 6th June 1999

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News in Brief

Paying twice

Dounreay management has confirmed that the UKAEA facing extra costs because of the regulator's refusal to allow a new company to take over the contract for maintaining the now closed Prototype Fast Reactor. AEA Technology, the privatised part of UKAEA, won a three-year contract when the work was initially put out to tender, but lost out to Alstom Automation when the contract was put out to tender for renewal. Alstom was due to take over maintenance in April but the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate questioned the competency of the company to carry out the work and queried the training of the new contractor's staff. Until the issues have been resolved AEA Technology are continuing the work on a month-to-month basis. Not only is AEA Technology being paid for its work, but Dounreay has paid Alstom for setting up its office on site as part of a 'mobilisation' contract.

Transport report links

Questions have been raised about the independence of a government commissioned report which gave a clean bill of health for the transport of nuclear waste and spent fuel to the Sellafield complex operated by British Nuclear Fuel. The government gave the contract for the report to Nukem Nuclear Limited, which has a number of commercial links and connections with BNFL - including a joint GBP54 million contract to decommission the Windscale reactor at Sellafield. CND commented that the links undermined the independence of the report.

Drug tests

Random drug testing is being introduced at Dounreay. All new workers will be tested from the start of June while tests for existing workers will begin after the summer.

New Sellafield chief

Mr Brian Watson is to become the new Head of Sellafield for British Nuclear Fuels when the present incumbent, Mr Grahame Smith, retired in August. Mr Watson is the present deputy to Mr Smith.

Reprocessing approved

The Japanese Nuclear Safety Commission has approved the re-opening of the Tokaimura reprocessing plant which was closed in March 1997 following and explosion which exposed 37 workers to low-level radiation. The commission states that after a year-long investigation it was satisfied the plant was safe to operate. The plant must now await the approval of the local prefecture.

Report due on Tuesday

'THORP - the case for Contract Renegotiation' is the title of a new report commissioned by Friends of the Earth which is due to be published on Tuesday 8th June. The report was written by two members of the government's Radioactive Waste Management Advisory Committee, Mike Sadnicki and Fred Barker, and Gordon MacKerron, the head of the energy programme at Sussex University's Science Policy Research Unit.

Waste arrives

We failed to mention earlier that the shipment of 15 tonnes of high-level reprocessing waste which left France in February on board the Pacific Swan arrived in Japan on 15th April.