Extreme Weather forces Nuclear Site Sellafield to shut down

Just in on my RSOE EDIS alerter:

British nuclear site Sellafield closed as a precaution on Friday due to bad weather including snow and high winds, its operator said in a statement. Staff were being sent home from the reprocessing and waste storage facility in northwest England but there was no evidence of any safety issues, it said. "In response to the current and predicted adverse weather conditions on and round the Sellafield site, as a precaution, a site incident has been declared and the plants have been moved safely to a controlled, shut down state," it said. Sellafield Ltd added: "We have implemented a phased, early release of staff from the site; this is being carried out in a safe, controlled manner. "There is no reason to believe that there will be any off-site nuclear, environmental or conventional safety issues associated with the incident." Britain's national weather service the Met Office said the county of Cumbria where Sellafield is located was suffering a barrage of exceptionally bad spring weather. "It is very windy with a mixture of rain, sleet and snow across Cumbria and there will continue to be so for the rest of the day," Met Office forecaster Helen Chivers told AFP. "They are in an area where there's a particularly heavy burst of rain and snow passing by." Sellafield was home to the world's first commercial nuclear power station, but it stopped generating electricity in 2003. The site is currently used for the reprocessing of spent fuel and nuclear waste storage.

SOURCE

Of course there has not been, is not, and will not be, any real danger of radioactivity being released into the environment. At least not more than the usual amounts. Erm.

Anyone remember the song Radioactivity from Kraftwerk btw ? It's got Sellafield in it .. but I'm getting OT.

Already been posted dude

Thanks for letting me know, I did an extensive search via the omnipotent search engine I swear !

The administrative personnel of ATS can shut this one down then I guess. I won't cry.

So, how do they normally get through the winter without having to shut down........when it's windy or cold?

And how often nuclear sites are closed due snow storms ?

The answer to that question might start another conspiracy bacchanale here.

This just in from www.sellafieldsites.com

"Following on from the Site Incident being declared at Sellafield earlier today, we can now confirm that the site status has returned to normal.

As a precautionary measure, the Site Emergency Control Centre will remain manned and operational to deal with any issues arising due to continuing adverse weather conditions.

All plants remain in a steady,controlled, safe state and safe manning levels continue to be maintained.

Should the situation change, further information will be provided."

It appears they were more concerned with staff safety than a direct risk to the processing plant.

reply to post by Elliot

the site is in a very exposed area where drifting snow can block the roads in minutes .
this is not about safety of the plant its for the safety of the staff .