Sellafield HLW Tank ‘Near Miss’
Marianne Birkby The High Level Liquid Waste (HLLW) stream at Sellafield is fiercely radioactive – so much so that it is self-heating and needs to be constantly cooled. This is achieved by a system of pipework inside the HLLW tanks which carry cold water. It is important that the cooling system in the high level waste tanks is kept running constantly – otherwise the high level wastes in the tank could get so hot that they boiled. If the cooling problem was still not sorted out, the tank would eventually boil dry.