Norwegian minister to visit Sellafield

Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim is to visit the Sellafield complex in England on Thursday 7 April.

Mr Solheim will tour the Sellafield complex in Cumbria and will receive information on operations at the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants.

An accident at Sellafield could have serious consequences in Norway. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority has recently published a report concluding that an accident involving the release of liquid radioactive waste to air could result in levels of radioactive fallout in Norway that are 7–8 times higher than those measured after the Chernobyl disaster. Large amounts of liquid high-level waste from reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel are stored at Sellafield.

Mr Solheim is looking for information on what is being done to reduce the quantity of liquid high-level waste stored at the site and on the safety management system at Sellafield.

“Britain should take steps to reduce the quantity of liquid high-level waste stored at the plant as soon as possible, and should present plans for doing this,” said the minister.

Mr Solheim is also asking the UK to postpone any further reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel until the accumulated backlog of high-level liquid waste can be converted to solid form.

“There have been considerable problems at the plants that deal with the waste, and it is difficult to see how the amount of liquid waste can be reduced quickly enough unless the waste stream from reprocessing is stopped. This is why we are calling for a halt to reprocessing operations for the time being,” said Mr Solheim.

Western Norway would be most severely affected by an accident at Sellafield, and the mayors of Bergen and Stavanger have therefore been invited to join Mr Solheim’s delegation.

Read more about the report on the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority´s website.

Read the letter to Secretary of State Chris Huhne, Departement of Energy & Climate Change (18 March 2011) (pdf)