A GROUP of specialist divers have entered Sellafield's nuclear pool for the first time in over 60 years. 

Divers have been carrying out vital clean-up and decommissioning work in the oldest legacy storage pond on the Sellafield site.

The last time a human entered Sellafield’s Pile Fuel Storage Pond was in 1958, when records show a maintenance operator and health physics monitor carried out a dive into the newly constructed pond to repair a broken winch.

The pool went out of use in the 1960s but now divers have returned as part of work to decommission and clean up the site. 

Led by the specialist US nuclear diving team Underwater Construction Corporation's Josh Everett, divers entered the pond via a specially installed access platform and position themselves on a metal dive stand with a shielded floor.

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From here, they were able to work in shifts of up to 3.5 hours at a time to retrieve sludges and debris from the pond floor, corners and other hard-to-reach areas.

Josh and his team have years of experience in safely diving in radioactive environments around the world, including at Dungeness A and Sizewell A in the UK.

News and Star: Years of experience brought to Sellafield’s Pile Fuel Storage Pond Years of experience brought to Sellafield’s Pile Fuel Storage Pond (Image: Sellafield Ltd)

Carl Carruthers, Sellafield Ltd head of programme delivery for legacy ponds, said: "The Pile Fuel Storage Pond diver project has been 5 years in the planning and has been a huge success. 

"The team are used to diving in toxic and hazardous environments all over the world, including inside nuclear reactor vessels, but this is a first for us.

"Safety has been our priority throughout, and the divers are monitored and communicating with the dive supervisor at all times.

"Their work has helped us make real progress in cleaning up the pond and our site mission to deal with the nuclear legacy and create a clean and safe environment for future generations," he said.

Current plans estimate the decommissioning work will cost around £212 million and will be completed by 2039, an achievement almost a century in the making.