Danger: Sellafield's toxic sludge pond

A MASSIVE pond holding up to five tonnes of the world's deadliest radioactive material, plutonium, and thousands of gallons of contaminated sludge is decaying at Sellafield.

The area in which the pond is situated is so contaminated, British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) workers are allowed just one hour per day exposure to the radiation. The discovery was made by the European Commission's nuclear inspectorate, which has criticised the inability of BNFL to quantify the extent of the environmental threat.

Last night, Environment Minister Martin Cullen said he was attempting to have Irish nuclear inspectors visit the Sellafield site.

The pond, which was constructed in the 1960s, was designed as a holding facility for weapons grade plutonium. BNFL has been unable to produce documentation showing the exact quantity of plutonium in the pond, said to be in a serious state of decay.

EU inspectors, operating under the terms of the Euratom Treaty, believe the pond contains 1.3 tonnes of plutonium, the primary ingredient of nuclear weapons.

BNFL have been unable to produce documentary evidence to confirm or deny this figure.

Last night, British nuclear consultant engineer John Large said he believed the pond contained anything up to five tonnes of plutonium, an estimate which he based on earlier BNFL statistics.

The EU inspectors have given BNFL until May 1 by which time they want full disclosure on Sellafield's poisoned pond.

Mr Cullen told RTÉ's Prime Time programme last nigh the EU inspectors' report was "very worrying". Sellafield could no longer be allowed to operate under a veil of secrecy, he said.

The Sellafield complex in Cumbria includes three old experimental nuclear reactors, four shut-down nuclear power plants and many thousands of tonnes of radioactive fuel and high-level wastes.

There is also the infamous Windscale Pile One experimental reactor that caught fire in October 1957 and caused the world's first major nuclear accident.

Britain's hand may now be forced by an EU draft directive that requires all states to deal with their high-level radioactive waste.

Windscale One and Two, two of Britain's earliest reactors, built in the 1940s to produce weapons grade plutonium are now being dismantled, along with the experimental Windscale advanced gas-cooled reactor.

This will mean an additional huge volume of radioactive waste will have to be stored at Sellafield.