Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
3/14/2014
Investigations are underway into three recent incidents at Sellafield—two contamination events and an issue that caused the shutdown of the Magnox Reprocessing Plant. “On the 23 February the Magnox Reprocessing Plant underwent a controlled shutdown as a result of an anomaly in the chemical process. Initial investigations suggest that this was due to a blockage of a chemical reagent in a part of the system,” states an incident report posted March 6 by site license company Sellafield Limited. There was no risk to the workforce or public, according to the company, and regulators have been informed and a “full investigation” is underway. Sellafield Limited did not respond to requests for comment this week.
In December, an event occurred at the High Active Liquor Evaporation and Storage facility in which “a number of contaminated items of works clothing were found outside of the appropriate disposal route in the High Level Waste Plant change room on the Sellafield site,” according to an incident report released Feb. 6, which adds that “an assessment of the release of radioactive material has been undertaken and the result exceeds the level that requires a Sellafield Incident Report (SIR) to be raised and is above the ministerial reporting level.” Contamination did not spread outside of the change room, and a board of inquiry investigation is underway.
Additionally, three workers were contaminated in December while operating a glovebox at Sellafield’s MOX plant. “The individuals were transferred to the site surgery for monitoring and decontamination treatment and further reassurance testing was carried out,” states an incident report posted Jan. 6. “We now have the results of that monitoring and can confirm that the highest dose received by one of the operators was 20 per cent of the legal annual radiological dose to a radiation worker.”
