Sellafield

Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large nuclear site on the coast of Cumbria, England. Now it mostly does nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. It used to be a nuclear power plant from 1956 to 2003, and nuclear fuel reprocessing from 1952 to 2022. It is a big place, 265 hectares (650 acres), and has more than 200 nuclear facilities and more than 1,000 buildings.^[1]

Incidents

Leak that became public in 2023

In December 2023, media wrote about a leak from a silo of radioactive waste.^[2]

The leak has been known since 2019, according to a middle manager at Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority;^[3] Furthermore, some radioactive water is leaking thru a crack in the silo; Furthermore, she says (in 2023) that the leak is not dangerous for Norway, and it has no consequence for Norway.

The Magnox Swarf Storage silo, at the Sellafield Site.

The silo in question is the Magnox swarf storage silo.^[2]