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TV programme about nuclear energy

PostPosted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:59 am
by Maurice Goldsmith
Watched an interesting programme on the BBC last night called "Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield". Scientist/broadcaster Jim Al-Khalili was given unprecedented access to the site, which generated nuclear power and reprocesses nuclear waste. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b065x080

One issue for survivors of an apocalypse in the UK will be how to deal with the unprocessed waste that is lying around on the site in open ponds. "Modern" waste is being processed fairly safely, it seems, although still needs keeping cool. It's the waste from the 1950's, when the site was rushing to build a nuclear bomb, which is has been left out in the open under water, and is only now getting cleaned up.

The most sobering part of the programme was the description of how close Britain came to it's own apocalypse, Chernobyl-style, when a fire in a reactor on site came close to spreading radioactive fallout over a vast swathe of the country. It was only a set of filters that had been installed late in construction that prevented this happening.
http://www.sellafieldsites.com/2013/09/iconic-windscale-chimney-opened-for-first-time-in-17-years-as-clean-up-work-leaps-forward/