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BNFL under Fire on Waste Storage

Safety experts have expressed alarm at significant changes to nuclear waste handling procedures being introduced by British Nuclear Fuels. The revisions include plans for a series of unmanned radioactive waste dumps up and down the country for debris from its ageing power stations.

It has also emerged that the company is scaling back plans to build protective shells around nuclear reactor buildings - which are to be left for periods of up to 135 years after closure - and that reactors and waste stores are to be unmanned and monitored from a central point.

MPs, environmental campaigners and senior industry safety experts say the plans would expose communities to danger and threaten the environment. The dumps will be established on the sites of BNFL's 11 Magnox power stations - built from the Fifties onwards around the coast of Britain — which are scheduled to close over the next 20 years. They will take "intermediate level" radioactive waste (ILW) - the second most perilous category, which includes items such as contaminated fuel casings, sludges, resins and discarded reactor equipment.

They are expected to remain in place for at least 40 to 50 years and potentially a lot longer, since there are no plans for a permanent store for the nation's nuclear waste. A Green Paper on what to do next, originally planned for the summer, is now expected to be published at the end of October.

According to BNFL, the waste will be put in concrete and placed in purpose-built or modified buildings. A spokesman said: "A separate company whose raison d'etre is long-term storage is better placed to deal with it, but this is not our main business."

Nuclear safety expert John Large told The Observer, "What is happening is extremely worrying. It is one thing having a working nuclear power station, but it is quite another to store waste for long periods on sites not originally designed for it." Large also said he had serious concerns about proposals to scale back on protective cladding for reactors, which BNFL plans to leave for around 100 years after they are shut down.

BNFL has also said it no longer plans to use high durability cladding materials, but would use standard materials to reinforce existing buildings and re-clad where necessary. Large said that would weaken the protection of the reactor cores. David Chaytor, MP for Bury North, said: "No-staffing at these sites is unacceptable."

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Americans vs. Japanese

The Americans and the Japanese decided to engage in a competitive boat race. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance.

On the big day they felt ready. The Japanese won by a mile. Afterward, the American team was discouraged by the loss. Morale sagged. Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found, so a consulting firm was hired to investigate the problem and recommended corrective action. The consultant's finding: The Japanese team had eight people rowing and one person steering; the American team had one person rowing and eight people steering.

After a year of study and millions spent analyzing the problem, the consultant firm concluded that too many people were steering and not enough were rowing on the American team.

So as race day neared again the following year, the American team's management structure was completely reorganized. The new structure: four steering managers, three area steering managers and a new performance review system for the person rowing the boat to provide work incentive.

The next year, the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American corporation laid off the rower for poor performance and gave the managers a bonus for discovering the problem....

Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.Quality of Life The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, only a little while.

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The American then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then?"

The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions ... Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."