Radioactive liquid waste has leaked at Sellafield, its owners admitted this evening.
Officials said the effluent, mainly water with a very low level of radioactivity, spilled from holding tanks into a concrete room designed to contain overflows. A small amount escaped into an adjacent concrete corridor.
A Sellafield spokesman said: “All material was recovered. Radiation monitoring confirmed that the liquid was of such low radioactivity that no further work was required to decontaminate the area.
“An investigation is under way to understand more about how the incident happened.”
It is understood that the plant was closed for maintenance when the spillage occurred. The UK's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and the Environment Agency have been informed. Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Nathan Argent said there was a real danger to Ireland’s environment from the plant on the Irish Sea coast.
“The Irish Sea is one of the most radioactive in the world,” he said. “One of the concerns that we have is that radioactive waste and subsequent contamination poses a great threat to the environment.
“There is no safe level of radiation so any discharge into the open environment does present a risk.”
PA