Update on Sellafield's Magnox Swarf Storage Silo facility

Members of Cumberland Council's nuclear issues board met to consider the report at Cumbria House in Carlisle on Friday (September 8).

Councillor Bob Kelly (Millom, Labour), the portfolio holder for Cumberland policy and regulatory services, said there seemed to be some contradictions and added: "In particular I'd be concerned about the possible effects on the work force."

Edwin Matthews, Sellafield's head of strategy and technical retrievals, said waste at the site had to be kept under water and samples were regularly taken to check for things such as Gamma radiation.

Council leader, councillor Mark Fryer (St Johns and Great Clifton, Labour), suggested that cllr Kelly might want to visit the site as he would get a better understanding of the operation.

According to the council report the original Magnox Swarf Storage Silo (MSSS) building on the site dated back to 1964 and is made up of six compartments of single skin concrete set five metres into the ground.

It contains a range of radioactive waste materials including Magnox fuel cladding.

A leak of contaminated water (liquor) from the building first occurred in the 1970s - it gradually reduced and by the end of the 1970s had stopped.

The report states: "In 2019, however, falling water levels in the silo indicated that the leak had recurred. Monitoring equipment has been in place both in and around the building for a number of years which has enabled the effects of the leak to be analysed effectively.

"The great majority of the radioactivity that has been released from the building as a result of both the original 1970s leak and the current leak remains held within the subsoil around the building.

"Regulators consider that 'any risk to the off-site environment and public is expected to be very low and would be realised over an extended timescale'."

Members of the committee noted the contents of the report.