Sellafield,Dismissed 5 members of staff already
MOX Plant,Falsified reports
A report due to be published tomorrow from Britain's Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations is expected to reveal that safety data at Sellafield has been secretly falsified since 1996. Five staff members have already being dismissed over the matter, which has also sparked a row with British Nuclear Fuel's biggest customer, Japan.
Tomorrow's report could be very serious for Sellafield. It concerns the falsification of data at the newest section of the Sellafield complex, the Mixed Oxide fuel plant. Last august, it was discovered that data relating to the size of the small pellets that make up the mixed oxide fuel rods had been falsified. BNFL investigated and sacked three people.
However, things got worse. It was then discovered that some of the fuel shipped to BNFLS biggest customer, Japan, has also been affected by this quality control problem. BNFL insisted that it was not a safety issue. The Japanese, however, do not want any more BNFL fuel. Two more members of staff were sacked this week and, today, top BNFL executives are currently in Japan trying to restore confidence.
It is reported, however, that tomorrow's study by the chief inspector of nuclear installations will reveal that this falsification has been going on at the MOX plant since 1996. There will be a second report on the storage of liquid waste at Sellafield and a third report on overall safety at the complex. Already, Trevor Sargent of the Irish Green Party has said that heads should roll over the false safety records.
