A nuclear power plant has been evacuated after a dangerous chemical was discovered.
Bomb disposal experts cleared part of the Sellafield site in Cumbria after organic peroxide was found during a routine inspection yesterday.
The sprawling station has been shut down until the chemical can be safely removed from the Magnox Reprocessing Plant.
Bosses said the substance – used in plastics and rubber industries – is away from the nuclear operation and was being treated as a conventional safety issue.
Bomb disposal experts cleared Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria after organic peroxide was found during a routine inspection
Sellafield Ltd said in a statement: ‘During a routine inspection of chemical substances stored on the Sellafield site, a small amount of chemicals (organic peroxide) were identified as requiring specialist disposal.
‘This chemical is used for a variety of purposes across many industries. In line with established procedures, support has been requested from Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD).
‘The EOD team is now in attendance at the Sellafield site and will dispose of the chemical safely.
‘Chemical monitoring is undertaken across the site to understand changing chemical states and to inform when and how industrial chemicals should be stored or disposed of.
‘This chemical substance was stored in the site’s Magnox Reprocessing Plant. The storage area is safely segregated from the nuclear operations of the plant and the risk has been identified as a conventional safety issue rather than a nuclear safety risk.
‘As a precautionary measure, a controlled evacuation of the Magnox Reprocessing Plant was carried out yesterday in order to investigate the chemical and devise the appropriate course of action.
‘The plant was non-operational at the time. The plant will remain non-operational while the chemical is disposed of.
‘As ever, our priority remains the protection of our workforce, community and the environment.’
Bomb disposal experts were called to the plant in 2018 after a similar incident and their report found the site had failed to identify the risks of out of date chemicals.
Sellafield was also rocked last year by claims of bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Whistleblowers said it had a ‘toxic’ culture, with women harassed and propositioned by senior male employees while homophobia and racist comments were ignored.
The then chief executive admitted he was ‘ashamed and embarrassed’ of what is going on.
In a video message to staff, leaked to the Daily Mail last year, Paul Foster said a survey found one in 20 of the 10,000 workforce were being bullied or harassed.
Sellafield nuclear plant is seen on February 24, 2005, in Cumbria. The 3.8 square km site on the coast produces nuclear fuel for electricity as well as stores nuclear waste from several countries around the world
One in four felt it was tolerated by bosses.
Some employees said they feared safety at the site, which housed the largest inventory of untreated nuclear waste in the world, could be compromised.
The nuclear processing plant in Cumbria is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a non-departmental government body responsible for winding down and cleaning the site by 2120.
It is run by not-for-profit Sellafield Ltd, which has a £2billion-a-year budget.
Employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mail how women were harassed and subject to vulgar jokes and comments.
They said racism and homophobia were commonplace but ignored, while one building on the sprawling site is known as ‘Totty Towers’.
Mr Foster, who had been in charge for five years, released the video on Sellafield’s intranet after the internal survey revealed high levels of bullying.
In the video, Mr Foster – who earned a six-figure salary – said the survey garnered ‘some very startling’ feedback.
He said: ‘Frankly we are a bit ashamed and embarrassed of what is happening in our organisation.
The survey found a quarter of employees believed bullying, harassment and offensive comments were tolerated.
Only 17 per cent thought staff were promoted on the basis of ability.
Mr Foster told staff: ‘I don’t want to be a part of any business that behaves in the way we are at the moment and in the 18 years I have worked here, I don’t think you do too. As such we won’t tolerate bullying and harassment.’
Initiatives he later introduced included speeding up investigations, setting up an independent complaints line for staff and hiring independent HR advisers.
But whistleblowers said changes were too slow, with anyone accused of bullying or harassment simply being moved to another sector.
One employee said: ‘Paul Foster has been the chief executive for nearly five years – why did he not know about this before and what has he done?
‘I am genuinely worried that something big is going to happen here and if it does it will contaminate a large part of Europe.’
In February 2017 Sellafield was ordered to pay almost £500,000 for health and safety failures that saw a worker exposed to eight times the annual limit of plutonium when a corroded probe punctured his hand through a protective glove.
The Government was warned by MPs in 2018 it must ‘get a grip’ on spiralling costs and project delays at the site.
In a statement last year before he stepped down, Mr Foster said safety and security were Sellafield’s ‘overriding priorities’.
He added: ‘Like most large employers, we have experienced allegations of bullying, harassment and discrimination in our workforce.
‘We do not tolerate this behaviour. We take equality, diversity, and inclusion extremely seriously.
‘That’s why we commissioned a survey in 2017. What we found was disappointing and we’ve been very open about that.
‘However, these results did not show a negative impact on site safety. We’ve since drawn up an action plan which we’re delivering.’