Karim El-Bar
14 August 2020•Update: 14 August 2020
LONDON
A nuclear power site in Britain has been evacuated and a bomb squad deployed after a chemical was found needing removal, local media reported on Friday.
The chemical is organic peroxide and was found in small amounts on the site, which underwent a controlled evacuation as a precautionary measure.
The incident took place at the Magnox Reprocessing Plant, which is part of the Sellafield site.
The plant was non-operational and will remain so until the chemical is disposed of. The plant is also segregated from the nuclear section, and as such as the incident was declared a conventional safety risk rather than a nuclear safety risk.
A spokesman for Sellafield said: “This chemical is used for a variety of purposes across many industries.
“In line with established procedures, support has been requested from Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD).
“The EOD team is now in attendance at the Sellafield site and will dispose of the chemical safely.
“Chemical monitoring is undertaken across the site to understand changing chemical states and to inform when and how industrial chemicals should be stored or disposed of.”
Sellafield is Europe’s largest nuclear site, with over 200 nuclear facilities and 1,000 buildings covering an area of two square miles.
