Ocean Radioactivity Transfer to Land, Food, People: UK Marine Pollution Expert Tim Deere-Jones.

Nuclear Hotseat 3rd Oct 2018 read more »

Sellafield Ltd is celebrating the latest group of nuclear trainees to complete apprenticeships. Introducing the next generation of nuclear professionals.

Apprenticeships Directory 20th Oct 2018 read more »

Around 1,100 Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) staff taking apart the former research site have been told about a series of future commitments including the offer of a job with one of the companies behind the site’s parent body organisation Cavendish Dounreay Partnership. Cavendish Dounreay Partnership is a consortium made up of Cavendish Nuclear, Jacobs and AECOM. Together they employ more than 220,000 with locations around the world including Caithness. Jamie Stone, Member of Parliament for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, said: “The Dounreay workforce has developed skills that are second to none and we should be proud of the work that they are doing to decommission the site. It is difficult to know that you are ultimately working your way out of a job and so I welcome early consideration of how these skills can be put to the best possible use in the future. The commitment from Cavendish Dounreay Partnership to offer jobs is good news for the workforce and I will be working with them to ensure as many of those roles as possible are based within this community.”

Dounreay 16th Oct 2018 read more »

Outokumpu’s Tornio facility in Finland, one of Europe’s biggest steel plants, has suffered four radiation contamination incidents since July, the country’s nuclear watchdog STUK said on Tuesday. In the latest incident, a batch of scrap metal at the plant was found on Oct. 12 to contain americium, a radioactive element that can be dangerous and potentially deadly if inhaled or swallowed by employees. Workers were forced to wear oxygen masks but were not exposed to radiation, STUK said. “It seems there is a bigger portion of scrap metal around the world that contains americium,” STUK director Tommi Toivonen said. “It is really difficult to find, unlike other radioactive elements.” STUK said in the Oct 12 incident the contaminated materials were shipped from the Netherlands and the Baltics, but were likely to have originated outside Europe. Outokumpu said output was unaffected and products were not contaminated. The origin of the imported scrap metal is not tracked, and the presence of radioactivity could be accidental or a deliberate way to get rid of contaminated materials, STUK said.

Reuters 16th Oct 2018 read more »

Northern Irish civil engineering company Graham Group has been awarded a £22 million contract to build an extension to a radioactive waste store at Dounreay. The work, which will see Dounreay’s existing above-ground intermediate-level waste store extended, is expected to start this month and take three years to complete. The store holds waste processed and packaged as part of the multi-million pound decommissioning and clean-up of the site. Dounreay construction director, David Hubbard said: “This is just one of several contracts being awarded to ensure we continue to reduce hazards and make progress towards the site’s interim end state. The next few years will see us construct several new facilities to support the programme as well as starting to demolish a number of redundant structures.”

Press & Journal 12th Oct 2018 read more »

Civil engineering company Graham Group has been awarded a £22m contract to build an extension to a waste store at the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness. About 100 people are expected to be involved in the construction project. Dounreay’s existing above-ground intermediate level-waste store will be extended. The store holds waste processed and packaged as part of the multi-million pound decommissioning and clean-up of Dounreay, near Thurso. The construction project is expect to begin this month and take about three years to complete.

BBC 12th Oct 2018 read more »

A £22 million contract has been awarded to extend an existing storage to house intermediate level waste from the Dounreay nuclear site. Dounreay is Scotland’s largest nuclear decommissioning project and is widely recognised as one of Europe’s most complex nuclear closure programmes. The above-ground waste store is expected to be processed and packaged as part of the site’s clean-up, with the work expected to take around three years to complete. The construction contract has been granted to GRAHAM Group, which has also committed to a series of community development initiatives such as work placements and the recruitment of trainee positions. This will be the latest in a series of facilities built to safely manage legacy waste at the Caithness plant.

Energy Live News 11th Oct 2018 read more »

BBC 11th Oct 2018 read more »

Today folk from Radiation Free Lakeland and Close Capenhurst remembered the 61st anniversary of the Windscale Fire. During 10–11th October, 1957 A serious fire developed in the core of a nuclear reactor at Windscale Works, Sellafield, northwest England, which led to the release of significant quantities of radioactive material into the environment over a wide area including but not exclusively Cumbria. This release of radioactive materials including polonium, led to an increase in radiation linked diseases and conditions from cancers to Downs Syndrome.

Radiation Free Lakeland 10th Oct 2018 read more »

Researchers from the Moscow-based Frumkin Institute of Physical Chemistry and the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Federal Research Center for Biotechnology have been able to isolate microorganisms which can be used to safeguard the surrounding environment from liquid radioactive waste. Scientists made the discovery while conducting microbiological studies of the groundwater at the Seversky deep radiation burial site in Seversk, Tomsk region, Siberia, where liquid radioactive waste from the Siberian Chemical Combine, which supplies and reprocesses low enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, is stored. Their research, recently published in Radioactive Waste, a Russian scientific journal, suggests that the bacteria is capable of converting radionuclide ions, including those found in uranium and plutonium, into sedentary forms, thereby preventing the spread of dangerous radiation into the surrounding environment. Through lab experimentation, the scientists were able to fine tune the conditions necessary for the bacteria to carry out its useful work.

Sputnik News 8th Oct 2018 read more »

CAMPAIGNERS on both sides of the border are objecting to plans to deposit dredged material within Carlingford Lough, claiming it would bring nuclear substances into the bay. Warrenpoint Port is proposing moving the placing of material collected during its regular dredging – carried out in order to maintain clear access for vessels – from 16 miles out at sea to within the lough. The port has earmarked a site between Greencastle and Cranfield for the plans. The Carlingford Ferry crosses close to the proposed zone, from Greencastle in Co Down to Greenore in Co Louth. Christine Gibson, from Greencastle Keep It Green, said: “We have major concerns about the nuclear and radioactive substances in the lough and how this is going to be dredged and dumped at Greencastle – which is a designated site for its wildlife and natural assets.” “We are concerned about coastal erosion and how it will affect our air and water quality,” she told the BBC. However, CEO of Warrenpoint Port, Clare Guinness, said: “We are not aware of any nuclear content anywhere in the Lough and nor are there any plans to have any.”

Irish News 7th Oct 2018 read more »

The Centre for Innovative Nuclear Decommissioning Engineering (CINDe) has officially opened in Workington with the aim of innovating and delivering future engineering leaders, supporting the UK’s nuclear decommissioning programme in west Cumbria.

World Nuclear News 5th Oct 2018 read more »