At the Sellafield reprocessing plant, a nuclear waste leak was discovered on April 19. Workers at the plant noticed a discrepancy in the amount of fuel entering pipes conducting the waste to a set of centrifuges and the amount of fuel actually arriving at the centrifuges. They used remote cameras to find the crack where the fuel was escaping; over twenty tonnes has leaked.
According to the Guardian, enough nuclear waste "to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool" has leaked from a cracked pipe into a "huge stainless steel chamber".
The fuel, consisting of mostly uranium and some plutonium dissolved in nitric acid, would have been reprocessed in the centrifuges. The large stainless steel chamber that now contains the spilled fuel is too dangerous to enter due to radioactivity, though it poses no danger to those outside the plant.
The plant has been shut down pending repairs.
According to the Guardian, enough nuclear waste "to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool" has leaked from a cracked pipe into a "huge stainless steel chamber".
The fuel, consisting of mostly uranium and some plutonium dissolved in nitric acid, would have been reprocessed in the centrifuges. The large stainless steel chamber that now contains the spilled fuel is too dangerous to enter due to radioactivity, though it poses no danger to those outside the plant.
The plant has been shut down pending repairs.
Bloody hell... why not shut the thing down permanently.
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