BRADWELL Power Station has finished treating radioactive waste as it makes another big step towards being decommissioned. Site operator Magnox is now preparing the site for the 80 year care and maintenance process. The power station stopped generating electricity in March 2002, after running for 40 years. In a programme spanning seven years, hundreds of thousands of litres of radioactive resin and sludge has been made ready for interim storage. The radioactive sludge was collected from the ponds which stored the site’s spent nuclear fuel during operation. The resins helped with removing the radioactive content from site’s discharges – making sure they were kept within safe and permitted levels. Once it had been retrieved, the waste was treated and packaged in self-shielding ductile cast iron containers known as yellow boxes, making it suitable for interim storage in the site’s purpose-built facility.
Maldon & Burnham Standard 23rd July 2018 read more »