The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced its decision to continue to allow the Sellafield site in Cumbria to continue to dispose of radioactive wastes.

Ministers concluded in light of the available evidence that it is not necessary or appropriate for them to exercise their powers of direction under Section 23 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 in respect of the existing BNFL Sellafield site authorisations.

In their decision the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in the Magnox plant at the Sellafield site is considered an existing class of practice and that no review of this is required. The reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) and the manufacture of nuclear fuel at the Sellafield MOX Plant were also approved.

The government concluded that it is not necessary to review the justification of the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel in the Magnox and Thorp reprocessing plants and the manufacture of nuclear fuel at the MOX Plant at the Sellafield site.


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