Sellafield commercial operations could close

British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) has been threatened with the closure of commercial activities at its Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant after an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII). The investigation was prompted by a series of safety incidents and the discovery of a set of falsified data concerning fuel exported to Japan.

The NII found "systematic management failures" to blame, as well as "poor ergonomic design of the plant, the tedium of the job, and the ease with which the computer data logging system could be manipulated". And it says that a poor safety culture has resulted from the thousands of jobs losses in the run up to privatisation - the government plans to sell 49% of the company. Both the NII and unions blamed management for the safety failures.

Greenpeace called the report a "shocking exposure of Sellafield's plutonium business" and for an end to nuclear reprocessing. However, Jack Dromey, spokesperson for BNFL trade unions, said that urgent action is now needed to save the 20,000-strong company, and that the workforce is determined to play its part in putting right what has gone wrong.