15 February 2001 Edition
GAS BLAST SCARE AT SELLAFIELD
A major disaster was narrowly averted at Sellafield's nuclear waste plant in Cumbria, last month, when more than 2,000 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste almost exploded, it has been revealed.
It has been alleged that safety procedures were so lax at one of the plant's waste storage facilities that workers ignored alarm warnings of a build-up of explosive gases for nearly three hours. The gases were accumulating in the 21 tanks that each store 100 tonnes of deadly waste. Had the situation continued for several hours longer, the tanks would have become explosive.
The British government have been criticised by Bernard Moffat of the Celtic League for not issuing warnings to nations such as Ireland and the Isle of Man, which have long standing safety concerns about the complex.
Moffat's organisation has branches in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters.
As usual, BNFL are talking down the incident but admit they did have to close down the Thorp plant to avert further danger. However, some British politicians and independent nuclear safety experts believe the situation was one of the most serious the plant has faced in recent years.
Nuclear consultant and one of the world's leading nuclear engineers, John Large said ``those 21 tanks of waste contain huge quantities of the most hazardous materials on the nuclear site, if not the planet.
``A similarly sized tank blew up in the Russian area of Chelyabinsk in 1957 and on its own devastated an area the size of central London.''
Meanwhile, the Celtic League has also called on the US government to release information regarding the possible loss of nine people on a Japanese trawler, which was struck by a US nuclear submarine, off the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday.
``This is the latest in a grim catalogue of incidents which may have claimed several hundred lives worldwide,'' Moffat said, referring to a string of collisions that have became a by-product of the Cold War.
``The Japanese should get answers from the US government following this latest incident. The cover-up surrounding incidents in European coastal waters should not be repeated.'' Over 25 years, Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Breton vessels were snagged or sank mysteriously in an area that became known as `Submarine Alley'.
It has been alleged that safety procedures were so lax at one of the plant's waste storage facilities that workers ignored alarm warnings of a build-up of explosive gases for nearly three hours. The gases were accumulating in the 21 tanks that each store 100 tonnes of deadly waste. Had the situation continued for several hours longer, the tanks would have become explosive.
The British government have been criticised by Bernard Moffat of the Celtic League for not issuing warnings to nations such as Ireland and the Isle of Man, which have long standing safety concerns about the complex.
Moffat's organisation has branches in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters.
As usual, BNFL are talking down the incident but admit they did have to close down the Thorp plant to avert further danger. However, some British politicians and independent nuclear safety experts believe the situation was one of the most serious the plant has faced in recent years.
Nuclear consultant and one of the world's leading nuclear engineers, John Large said ``those 21 tanks of waste contain huge quantities of the most hazardous materials on the nuclear site, if not the planet.
``A similarly sized tank blew up in the Russian area of Chelyabinsk in 1957 and on its own devastated an area the size of central London.''
Meanwhile, the Celtic League has also called on the US government to release information regarding the possible loss of nine people on a Japanese trawler, which was struck by a US nuclear submarine, off the Hawaiian Islands on Sunday.
``This is the latest in a grim catalogue of incidents which may have claimed several hundred lives worldwide,'' Moffat said, referring to a string of collisions that have became a by-product of the Cold War.
``The Japanese should get answers from the US government following this latest incident. The cover-up surrounding incidents in European coastal waters should not be repeated.'' Over 25 years, Welsh, Irish, Scottish and Breton vessels were snagged or sank mysteriously in an area that became known as `Submarine Alley'.