The chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels said last night that he had no intention of resigning over a damning report into the falsification of safety data at the Sellafield reprocessing plant.
British Nuclear Fuel's Sellafield processing plant in Cumbria, where workers have to deal with some of the most toxic substances known to man
John Taylor said that he would not relinquish his post, despite the highly critical findings of an investigation by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate published yesterday. The body accused BNFL of systematic failures in management that allowed staff to falsify data on Mox fuel pellets destined for Japanese reactors.
Workers were said to have become bored by the repetitive process of measuring the uranium-plutonium oxide pellets and simply copied the results of previous tests to save themselves the work. Five staff at Sellafield have been dismissed.
The NII has closed the facility where the pellets were made and ordered BNFL to overhaul its safety management practices in the next two months or face further sanctions. It has the power to remove the operating licence for Sellafield if the conditions are not met.
Laurence Williams, the chief inspector of nuclear installations, said BNFL suffered from an inadequate "safety culture". Mr Taylor was attempting last night to rescue BNFL's contract with Kansai Electric Power, the Japanese nuclear generator which took delivery of some of the pellets involved in the scandal.
The company insists that the consignment be returned to Britain, despite assurances from the NII that it is not a safety risk. A question mark is also hanging over the career of Chris Loughlin, the director responsible for the Mox project. He is also in Japan. Mr Taylor said: "We've had a setback - no question. But Chris Loughlin and I want to stay, take lessons on board and drive the company forward."
He said he hoped to persuade the Japanese to resume Mox imports from Britain, which are crucial to BNFL's plans for developing the new fuel. Broad agreement had been reached with Kansai on compensation and assurances had been given that there would be no repeat of the misconduct.
But the company may be bounced into overhauling its top management by the Government. Helen Liddell, the energy minister, said yesterday that she had written to Hugh Collum, chairman of BNFL, calling for a "root and branch" review of the company's operations.
The review "should regard no one and no level in the organisation out of bounds". The Government's plan to raise £1.5 billion through the partial privatisation of the company is now in doubt. The Irish government has urged Britain to consider closing Sellafield, at least temporarily, because of its "close proximity to the east coast of Ireland".
