At 1030 on Tuesday 10th October 2017, CORE Campaigners Janine Allis-Smith and Martin Forwood will lay flowers at the Sellafield site perimeter fence in a simple act of remembrance of those whose health was affected by exposure to radiation in the plume released during the fire of 1957 – and the bravery of those who fought to bring the blaze in Pile 1 under control. Members of the public are invited to add their own floral tributes during a week of remembrance. A CORE spokesperson said today: ‘The laying of flowers this morning is wholly marred by the recently confirmed ‘loss’ by Sellafield Ltd of the commemorative plaque laid in 1987 on the 30th Anniversary of the Fire. With some exceptions that have seen its unduly rough and insensitive treatment by site workers, the plaque had served as a focal point for those wishing to pay their own tributes. Its loss and past treatment reflects a singular lack of the respect expected for a dedicated memorial’.
CORE 9th Oct 2017 read more »
On Thursday, October 10 1957, the 400ft No 1 pile at the Windscale works caught fire. Since 1951, in top secret, the twin Windscale piles had been producing plutonium for Britain to make its own atomic and hydrogen bombs. The explosive material from the operation of the first reactor was used for the UK’s first nuclear weapons test in Australia on October 3, 1952. Radioactive fallout from the 1957 fire spread across the region and there was an immediate ban on the distribution of milk from an area covering 200 square miles.
Carlisle News and Star 10th Oct 2017 read more »
Scientists have established a link between nuclear discharges from Sellafield and traces of radiation found in marine mammal predators off the Scottish coast. Among the seals and porpoises contaminated were animals living all along the west coast from Kinlochbervie down to Stranraer between 1991 and 2015. The researchers from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) studied the transfer of Sellafield-derived radiocarbon — known as 14C — through to predators at the top of the food chain. They said the findings provided evidence that radiation which leaks from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing and decommissioning site, on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria, moves up through the marine food chain.
Times 9th Oct 2017 read more »
Sellafield Ltd has to monitor beaches close to the Sellafield site to check for radioactivity. This beach monitoring programme is a condition the Environment Agency imposed on Sellafield Ltd when it issued them with an environmental permit.
Environment Agency 9th Oct 2017 read more »
Firefighters at the Sellafield nuclear power station are to stage two days of strike action later this month in a dispute over pay.
Energy Voice 9th Oct 2017 read more »
BBC 9th Oct 2017 read more »
