Radiation leaks at UK power plants cast major doubts on nuclear future

Fukushima in Japan cast serious doubts over safety of nuclear power

First it was the incident at Fukushima that cast serious doubts over the safety of nuclear energy. Now a leaked report has found that there have been three instances of leaked radiation from UK nuclear power plants in the last three months.

The Guardian have revealed that government ministers have been told that there have been three incidents in the UK in the last three months involving radioactive waste and faulty nuclear power plants.

A brown puddle of plutonium, at five times the legal safety limit was found at the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. Radioactive tritium was found leaking from faulty pipes at the Torness plant in Glasgow, and Hartlepool nuclear station reported that the back-up cooling system was out of action due to a faulty valve.

These incidents have all been dealt with and are being investigated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).

They may have been minor incidents and no one has contracted radiation sickness, but they were serious enough to be reported to ministers and it does cast a huge shadow over the future of the UK nuclear energy industry.

If little flaws are being found in nuclear power stations in the UK, what will happen if a Fukushima-style incident happens in the UK and an earthquake or similar disaster did hit? Safety at UK nuclear plants needs to be improved and looked at before we start on a plan to extend the number of power stations in Britain.

Prime Minister David Cameron has previously stated that he is behind the UK’s push to capitalise on nuclear energy, but the nuclear power industry has postponed its plans until later in 2011 because they are concerned about the Fukushima situation and want to ensure a similar problem does not happen in the UK.

This news comes at an unfortunate time for nuclear energy, particularly so soon after the Fukushima incident in Japan. It also comes the week before the 25th anniversary of the worst nuclear accident in history – the Chernobyl incident in the Ukraine.

Train4TradeSkills News will be running a feature on Tuesday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Come back then to read it, or you can find it on the Train4TradeSkills Facebook and Twitter pages.

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• Leaked Report Shows England Hit With Three Nuclear Incidents In February (businessinsider.com)

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