Latest News

Filters

Filter by tags: United Kingdom Sellafield Uranium Clear all tag filters

11 news articles found


Five major companies have made key announcements on their plans to advance small modular reactor (SMR) deployment in the UK. While Rolls-Royce SMR shortlisted three sites for a factory to produce component for its planned SMR; Balfour Beatty and Holtec with Hyundai agreed to support plans for the construction of Holtec’s SMR-160; and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) submitted a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) application for its BWRX-300 SMR to the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Date: Friday, 23 December 2022
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newssmr-competition-heats-up-in-the-uk-10456556

Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, Sellafield Ltd says it has taken some precautionary actions at its site in north-west England, including the controlled shutdown of the Magnox Reprocessing Plant. The reprocessing plant is approaching its 60th year and is a complex chemical facility designed to process and separate plutonium and uranium.

Date: Tuesday, 24 March 2020
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Sellafield-starts-controlled-shutdown-of-Magnox-fa

A shipment of samples of plutonium oxide is en route from the UK to a laboratory at Orano's Melox plant in southern France. The samples will be used to determine if the plutonium can be used in the production of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel.

Date: Friday, 29 November 2019
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/British-plutonium-samples-shipped-to-France

While the UK nuclear industry met the required safety and security standards last year, there remains room for improvement, the country's Chief Nuclear Inspector Mark Foy said today in his first annual report on the sector's performance. He said three key areas of focus are the management of ageing facilities, conventional health and safety, and delivering a holistic approach to nuclear security.

Date: Saturday, 12 October 2019
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/UK-chief-nuclear-inspector-issues-performance-repo

Work has been completed to remove fuel from the world's first commercial nuclear power plant at Calder Hall in west Cumbria, in northwest England. Opened on 17 October 1956, Calder Hall was in operation for 47 years, until 2003, and the defueling operation began in 2011.

Date: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Sellafield-completes-defueling-of-Calder-Hall

Work has been completed to remove fuel from the world's first commercial nuclear power plant at Calder Hall in west Cumbria, in northwest England. Opened on 17 October 1956, Calder Hall was in operation for 47 years, until 2003, and the defueling operation began in 2011.

Date: Tuesday, 03 September 2019
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Sellafield-completes-defueling-of-Calder-Hall

The UK Department of Energy & Climate Change has a problem with the world’s largest stocks of reactor-grade plutonium. The international association Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy view this as a one-time opportunity to benefit several advanced nuclear energy developments, none of which are acknowledged by DECC. By Brendan McNamara

Weak, short distance radiation makes it warm; so it is safe to hold but not to swallow. UK reactor grade plutonium is unsuitable for making weapons. And small-scale uses of UK plutonium could never go critical

Date: Friday, 27 May 2011
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newssmarter-uses-for-plutonium

Leaked memoranda from the US embassy in London to Washington from 2007-9 reveal angst over Iran’s nuclear power programme, concern about international fuel banks, and the head of the IAEA, according to a series of nuclear power-related documents published by Wikileaks and UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph earlier this year. The most notable findings are summarized below.

Date: Friday, 04 March 2011
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newswikileaks-reveals-art-of-nuclear-diplomacy

Sellafield Ltd has been fined GBP75,000 ($123,000) after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety law after two contractors inhaled radioactive contamination.

Date: Monday, 07 December 2009
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newssellafield-ltd-fined-after-contractors-inhale-radioactive-contamination-

The oceans have been formed from countless storms and the flow of vast quantities of water and sludge. The Amazon alone pours out billions of tonnes of chemicals every year, including carcinogens such as beryllium, cadmium, nickel and uranium. The inventory of arsenic in the world’s waters, in particular, is several billion tonnes and this is a worse carcinogen in water than plutonium. Natural uranium and radium in the seas amount to around 5 billion and 34 million tonnes respectively. On land, in the top 500 metres of UK rocks there are nearly a billion tonnes of uranium and 300 tonnes of radium, which are being steadily leached into the sea. In coal-fired power, wastes have been casually spread in enormous heaps from mine spoil and coal refining; ‘fly’ ash from burning coal (containing uranium and its decay products) is collected in lagoons and made into blocks for building construction. Radioactive waste would therefore be an insignificant extra hazard if dispersed in the sea or on the land surface. However, international opposition on political grounds would probably cause a long delay before there was general agreement on such direct dumping.

Date: Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsstore-ilw-as-toxic-waste