Sellafield Ltd has removed the entire bulk stocks of historic nuclear fuel from the pile fuel storage pond at Sellafield, the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) announced last week.
Radioactivity levels in the 68-year-old pond have now been reduced by 70 percent, as a result of the effort. NDA’s cleanup plan of Sellafield, which is located in Cumbria, England, is expected to last at least another 100 years, according to a press release. Crews removed the fuel from 40 feet away using remote controls, the press release states. They also used radiation shields and cameras to assist the effort.
“The enormity of the challenge cannot be underestimated – the pond was built with no design for how its contents would be removed,” Paul Foster, managing director of Sellafield Ltd, said in a statement. “We have had to retro-fit an export process and then safely execute it in one of the most challenging environments imaginable.”