Scottish nuclear fuel leak 'will never be completely cleaned up'

[kristopher]

Scottish nuclear fuel leak 'will never be completely cleaned up'

Radioactive contamination that leaked for more than two decades from the Dounreay nuclear plant on the north coast of Scotland will never be completely cleaned up, a Scottish government agency has admitted.

<snip>

Tens of thousands of radioactive fuel fragments escaped from the Dounreay plant between 1963 and 1984, polluting local beaches, the coastline and the seabed. Fishing has been banned within a two-kilometre radius of the plant since 1997.

The most radioactive of the particles are regarded by experts as potentially lethal if ingested. Similar in size to grains of sand, they contain caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, but they can also incorporate traces of plutonium-239, which has a half-life of over 24,000 years – meaning that is the time period for half of the material to break down.

The particles are milled shards from the reprocessing of irradiated uranium and plutonium fuel from two long-defunct reactors. They are thought to have drained into the sea with discharges from cooling ponds...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/21/scottish-nuclear-leak-clean-up

Don't fret, however, the operator paid a fine of 140,000 pounds, so nuclear remains clean and safe.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Similar post. Same source but in Editorials & Other Articles

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x628078

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Great.

Remind me not to eat any fish from the Pacific OR the Atlantic ocean.

[kristopher]

4. How often do you need to be reminded?

Perhaps I could start a subscription service...

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kristopher]

5. Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe

Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe
Last week the government announced plans for a new generation of nuclear plants. But Britain is still dealing with the legacy of its first atomic installation at Sellafield - a toxic waste dump in one of the most contaminated buildings in Europe. As a multi-billion-pound clean-up is planned, can we avoid making the same mistakes again?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/19/sellafield-nuclear-plant-cumbria-hazards

How are the external costs of nuclear power calculated and paid?