The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued an Enforcement Notice to BNFL, operator of the Chapelcross Nuclear Power Station. This follows an incident on 3 September this year when an estimated 3200 litres (700 gallons) of radioactively contaminated water was spilled on site. The power station’s surface water drains connect to a local watercourse.

SEPA was notified of the incident the following day, taking a number of water samples from the Gullielands Burn both on and off the site. SEPA officers also made radiological measurements in the stream bed. Neither results showed significant differences from levels normally found in that environment.

The subsequent investigation by SEPA showed the incident was probably caused by a combination of human error and a lack of written procedures.

"This is the third incident involving problems with liquid radioactive waste handling on the site to come to SEPA’s attention since December 1998," explained Specialist Environment Protection Officer, Dr Jim Gemmill. "SEPA expects compliance with all conditions of the site’s authorisation and although there appears to have been no contamination of the local watercourse in this instance, SEPA must view this matter very seriously. This Enforcement Notice requires the operator, BNFL, to meet certain conditions and standards laid down by SEPA within a set timescale. Failure to adhere to this may result in a report being sent to the Procurator Fiscal."

NOTES

· The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) was established under the Environment Act 1995.
Its main duty is to protect the environment by controlling pollution to land, air and water in Scotland.
· Radioactive substances - SEPA regulates the use and disposal of radioactive substances; holds the national register for the use and disposal of radioactive substances; controls discharges of radioactive waste from nuclear installations; and manages the UK Radioactive Incident Monitoring Network (RIMNET) in Scotland.
· The incident was potentially an offence under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 as the site had breached condition 3 of its RSA Liquid Authorisation, which requires that liquid radioactive waste shall be discharged via the cooling water pipeline.
· This is the third incident involving problems with liquid radioactive waste handling to come to SEPA’s attention since December 1998. The first involved contamination of a third party’s premises with Tritium. SEPA’s investigation showed there was inappropriate storage of liquid waste on site and that this had lead to a spread of contamination. The second incident occurred in January 1999, when there was a failure to fully sample a radioactive discharge and constituted a breach of Authorisation condition. A SEPA investigation identified human error and inadequate procedures as the cause and a warning letter was issued.