The emergency closure of the plant occurred on 21 April 2005. For the past year nuclear fuel has been stored on site at Sellafield. It's not yet clear if and when THORP will reopen, but indications from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority are that storage capacity at Sellafield could run out in the near future (one to two years from now) leading to serious problems for the nuclear industry. A report prepared for Greenpeace by nuclear engineer John Large castigates the option proposed by the NDA for reopening the plant.

The leak which closed the plant had been going on for nine months before it was detected. British Nuclear Group's (BNG) Board of Inquiry into the THORP accident has stated that there is a risk that the plant could fail again, even if the Board of Inquiry recommendations are implemented. A tank intended for future reprocessing, were the plant to reopen, could be subject to the same failures as the infrastructure which caused the original leak. The operators want to reopen the plant this summer.

John Large's report explains that properly engineered solutions could take up to three years to implement. The NDA has claimed that if it does not reopen the plant it will face mounting problems because of the amount of foreign and UK spent nuclear fuel stored in THORP's receipts and storage unit. Continued closure could even impact on the operation of British Energy reactors which continue to send spent fuel to Sellafield on a weekly basis.

The nuclear industry is anxious to reopen the plant because it's worried about the prospects for spent fuel storage if it doesn't clear the backlog. What's most worrying is that the operators never had a plan B for this situation. They always assumed THORP would operate smoothly. Now it appears they're prepared to risk the same scenario again with a questionable reopening plan. Greenpeace has called for all documents relating to the accident and safety case to be released for public scrutiny as soon as possible. As it is, information is currently being withheld because of pending legal action.

Secrecy currently surrounds the conditions under which the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) would allow THORP to reopen. The NII has not released the 49 conditions which it has imposed on British Nuclear Group (BNG) before it can reopen the plant. It is unbelievable that THORP could be allowed to operate again without the public knowing exactly what conditions the inspectors have imposed or what the consequences of a second failure might be. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which owns THORP, has refused to fully disclose the cost of the accident, despite repeated requests under Freedom of Information legislation by Greenpeace. BNG has been unable to provide sound financial costings for the non-restart options for THORP

Despite its refusal to detail the costs of the THORP'S closure, the NDA has put in an insurance claim for lost revenue and repair costs and stated it estimates losses will amount to £50m - significantly less than the Greenpeace report estimate of £575m. Meanwhile, although not officially announced yet, the Guardian reports that BNG will be prosecuted for breaches of health and safety regulations following the accident. [2]

[1] “leak of radioactive liquor in the feed clarification cell at BNG THORP Sellafield: Review of the management and technical aspects of the failure and its implications for the future of THORP, Large Associates, 13th April 2006, Greenpeace International.
[2] Guardian 20th April 2006