Sellafield stores tonnes of high-level nuclear waste

The B30 pond has held waste fuel for Magnox nuclear reactors since 1960.

For the first time in 15 years a container of fuel from the so-called legacy storage ponds has been sent to the Fuel Handling Plant.

It will be examined more closely, and the results of this trial could have a dramatic effect on future reprocessing.

The decommissioning of storage ponds at Sellafield is among the requirements set by the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency.

If this trial is successful it will enable us to start clean-up and emptying of legacy ponds much earlier Dorothy Gradden, B30 projects

The latest developments follow close-up footage of the contents of the pond, obtained by a remotely-operated submarine, which showed some waste fuel in good condition.

The Fuel Handling Plant will now inspect it more closely and reprocessing trials will be carried out.

Ongoing trials

This involves blending it with modern fuel to examine the impact it has on reprocessing time scales.

Dorothy Gradden, who is in charge of the clean-up, said it was an exciting development: "Our current plans assumed that due to the age of the fuel in B30, none of it would be reprocessable and we would have to build new plants to treat and store this fuel's waste.

"But the fuel has been well preserved and we believe some of it can be reprocessed through our modern plants, currently operational.

"If this trial is successful it will enable us to start clean-up and emptying of legacy ponds much earlier.

"Our current plans show it could take up to 50 years - this development could start to take decades off that time frame."