The British Nuclear Group (BNG) is to be prosecuted for breaches of health and safety regulations at Sellafield in a move that could hit government sell-off plans.The negligence charges follow an accident that closed the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) a year ago and which is causing huge stockpiles of spent fuel to mount up at the Cumbrian site.
About 700 tonnes of irradiated fuel belonging to foreign companies lies in cooling ponds at Sellafield and should have been reprocessed many years ago. Opponents of Thorp believe that reopening the plant would be hazardous because, they argue, there can be no guarantee that a similar accident would not happen again. more