Sellafield may be fined over radiation dose

NUCLEAR clean-up business Sellafield could receive a large fine as it faces prosecution after a worker received a huge dose of radiation in an accident at the Cumbria site.

The worker received up to three times the allowable annual exposure to radiation in the accident – which was rated serious enough to have to be reported to the energy minister – while doing what was described as “routine” work.

Sellafield Ltd – a company controlled by government body the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority – is now being prosecuted under health and safety laws, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said.

There is no maximum on the fine Sellafield faces if found guilty. A report into the incident last February by the ONR said that the employee – who is alive – was working on a filter that was part of a “glovebox”, which is a sealed container fitted with gloves to allow people to handle hazardous materials inside them.

The filter was being emptied after it triggered an alarm. As the worker replaced a part, a cable got tangled in the workings. As he removed the cable the worker “felt a sharp pain” in his left hand, according to the report. Emergency responders were called and it was determined the worker had received a wound “with the potential for internal radiation exposure”.

The worker was decontaminated and further samples were taken which confirmed he had received a radiation dose beyond the annual safe limit of 20 millisieverts (msv).

A dose of 100 msv a year increases the risk of cancer, while 1,000 msv is likely to cause a fatal cancer in 5pc of those exposed to it.

Sellafield employs about 13,000 staff and is responsible for reprocessing and decommissioning nuclear fuel, materials and waste as it cleans up the Cumbria site.