Sellafield radioactive sludge is removed

The first radioactive sludge has been removed from the Sellafield nuclear site, marking a “major step forward” in its clean-up.

About 1,500 cu m of sludge needs to be emptied from an area built in the 1950s to store used nuclear fuel for recycling.

“We’re making history at Sellafield by transferring the first sludge using a tried-and-tested pump to a new £240m [€327m] state-of-the-art sludge storage plant containing three enormous stainless steel buffer storage vessels, each of which is the same volume as seven double decker buses,” said Sellafield decommissioning spokesman Martin Leafe.