Safety culture at Sellafield was severely criticised
The US Government is coming under increased pressure
from environmental groups to suspend its contracts with
British Nuclear Fuels following troubles at the Sellafield
nuclear plant in Cumbria.
On Thursday Switzerland became the latest country to
halt fuel shipments.
Japan and Germany have already
suspended shipments after a
report by the Nuclear
Installations Inspectorate (NII),
the UK atomic watchdog,
revealed a "lack of a safety
culture" at the site.
It also found safety
checks on fuel supplied
to Japan had been
falsified.
In the wake of the NII report, the US Government
has said it is placing the British company's £4.4bn
American operation to clean up former nuclear
sites under "extra scrutiny".
BNFL has at least five
contracts in the US and is
lobbying for more -
including plans to build a
plutonium waste incinerator
plant in Idaho.
But environmental groups
have been putting the US
Government under
increased pressure since
the report and it appears
the energy department is
acting on their fears.
US Energy Secretary Bill
Richardson said he had
ordered his department to
send a team to England to
meet with British investigators.
''We are now placing BNFL under extra scrutiny because
of these problems.
''I have been uneasy about some of their operations in
the US. If we uncover anything, I will take swift and
strong action.''
He added: ''Business as
usual is over with BNFL and
with all our contractors, but
especially with BNFL.''
In a statement, BNFL said:
"We welcome the US
Department of Energy's
decision to comprehensively
examine our operations."
It added: "BNFL Inc. has
nothing to hide and we are
confident that the US
Department of Energy will
satisfy itself that this is the
case."
Gordon Mackerron, of the
University of Sussex, said: "If BNFL were to be kicked
out of the US market for decommissioning and clean-up
it would be very serious for them.
"Prospects are exactly in this kind of market, and the
US is the biggest source.
Bosses at the Swiss nuclear safety inspectorate HSK
said permission to send fuel rod consignments to
BNFL's Cumbrian site would not be granted until they
were satisfied of "significant improvements" to its safety
record.
The Swiss decision came despite a visit to Sellafield by
a HSK official earlier this month to confirm that there
had been no falsification of data on fuel sent to Swiss
installations.
BNFL called the Swiss decision "unfortunate" but said it
was implementing a series improvements ordered by
the NII which it believed would persuade the HSK to
recommence shipments.
A BNFL spokesman said: "We are confident these (NII)
recommendations once implemented would give HSK
the assurances that they require."
