Sellafield cleared after three-year inquiry

BNFL's Sellafield site has finally been given a clean bill of health by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, three and a half years after it admitted to serious safety breaches.

The NII found serious "irregularities" at Sellafield, which included the falsification of documents relating to the mixed plutonium/uranium oxide (Mox) fuel that BNFL sells to customers from Japan to France.

The report, published in February 2000, led to the resignation of the then chief executive, John Taylor, and the shelving of plans to privatise the nuclear group. Mr Taylor's replacement, Norman Askew, has purged the management of Sellafield and the group has spent more than £36m over three years on a safety improvement plan.

The NII made 28 recommendations to improve safety at Sellafield and at its Mox plant, though BNFL ended up having to make 41 changes to its working practices.

"I am delighted to hear that we have closed out this report," said Mr Askew. "This has been one of the most extensive change programmes ever undertaken." However, the NII green light will not mean that BNFL will be able to resume large-scale shipments of its Mox fuel, thanks to problems at its major customer, Japan.

A similar scandal involving falsified documents led to 17 nuclear reactors being closed in Japan. The local councils need to approve their reopening so this is likely to be a long-term process, though worries that the country could suffer an electricity crisis may hasten the project. The Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Japan's version of Sellafield, has also suffered a setback and will not now be operating before 2005.

The NII report has come at a good time. It is interviewing candidates to replace Mr Askew, who is to leave later this year. In the next few weeks the Government will publish its bill to create the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, which will take over much of BNFL's business, leaving BNFL largely as a nuclear contractor.