The Environment Agency publish permits that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
This decision includes the permit and decision document for:
The world’s oldest nuclear waste store has been cut open for the first time.
Experts at the Sellafield nuclear site have cut the hole in the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo, a locked vault which was never designed to be opened.
This is the first of six holes that will allow radioactive waste to be removed from one of the site’s most hazardous buildings.
The silo was built in the 1950s when the site’s purpose was to make material for nuclear weapons.
Safely decommissioning the building is one of the highest priorities for Sellafield Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and will take them a step closer to reducing the UK’s nuclear hazard.
The most complicated ‘hole in a wall’ ever made
Steven Carroll, Head of the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo, said:
I am incredibly proud of the work that our Sellafield Ltd and supply chain teams have achieved together, in preparing the silo for successful waste retrievals.
The level of challenge involved with this facility is unparalleled, considering the age of the building, the lack of historical information about the waste itself, the atmosphere inside the silo and its position
on one of the most congested sites, anywhere in the world.Despite this, the teams have carried out some world class engineering in difficult environments to get us closer to getting the waste out and into safer storage earlier than planned.
The work is being carried out by Sellafield Ltd, along with Bechtel Cavendish Nuclear Solutions and Babcock Marine Technology.
Preparations have been under way for a number of years, which involved practising the cutting operation at a full-scale replica test rig in Rosyth, Scotland.
The six holes are cut at the top of each of the facility’s six compartments, allowing access to the waste within the silo’s walls for the first time in 65 years.
Each section is cut away in a single piece and withdrawn into a containment bag. A containment door is then lowered over the aperture and closed.
The giant steel doors will provide a safe barrier between the waste inside the silo and the outside world. Work to remove the material will start in 2019.
To remove the waste, a crane will extend through the cut holes, a grabber will then drop down to scoop the waste up, lifting it out of the container and back through the hole.
It will then be dropped into a specially-designed metal box, for safe and secure storage in a modern facility.
On 29 August 2017 the Plymouth Magistrates’ Court sentenced Mr Robert Manning a self-employed fish merchant in a prosecution brought by the MMO.
The court heard how Mr Manning, a registered buyer of first sale fish had failed to submit sales notes to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) within the 48 hour period required by EU Regulations.
Investigations by MMO Officers revealed a total of 270 sales notes, detailing purchases that Mr Manning had made between 1 January 2014 and 30 June 2016 from four vessels were not provided to the MMO. The transactions amounted to a total of 57,562kg, of scallops valued at £127,934.60.
Mr Manning entered a guilty plea to the charge and after hearing mitigation on his behalf the court ordered him to pay a fine of £1,882, the costs of bringing the prosecution of £6,937.70 and a victim surcharge of £170.
A spokesman for the MMO said:
“The requirement to submit sales notes within 48 hours enables the MMO to gain an accurate picture of fish stocks on which to base its fisheries management decisions. When (as in this case) sales notes are not submitted that picture becomes partial, distorted or inaccurate. This prosecution shows that the MMO will take the appropriate enforcement action to prevent such a situation occurring.”
Atlantic bluefin tuna is recognised as an endangered species by the WWF and the IUCN Red List.
Within EU waters, it is prohibited for commercial or recreational vessels to catch or target bluefin tuna unless authorised to do so by an EU member state. The UK has no specific quota to catch bluefin tuna and as such does not currently issue authorisations to UK recreational vessels.
Bluefin tuna is a prohibited species for UK registered commercial fishing vessels and if caught as a by-catch must be returned to the sea, alive and unharmed to the greatest extent possible.
Bluefin tuna caught as a by-catch which are dead must be reported to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) by contacting the local MMO office, landed whole and unprocessed. Bluefin tuna landed as a result of this requirement must not be sold or given away unless it is for scientific research following approval from the MMO.
More information on bluefin tuna on the MMO blog.
Updated: We have added details of companies awarded compensation for RO / FIT in 2017 and those awarded an exemption from CFD for 2018.
The government has committed to publishing a list of those companies receiving compensation or relief for the indirect costs of CFD, RO and FIT.
The CFD document lists companies awarded an exemption from indirect costs up until the end of August 2018. The RO / FIT document lists companies awarded compensation up to 2017.