Press release

Chemical disposal update - Friday 27 October 2017

An update on the disposal of chemicals at Sellafield

• From: Sellafield Ltd
• Published: 27 October 2017

Work to safely dispose of chemicals at Sellafield has continued this week and will continue over the weekend.

The disposals will take place during daylight hours and may be audible off-site. We have provided updates directly to staff and stakeholders in the immediate vicinity of the site.

The process that experts from the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team is using to safely dispose of the chemicals is in line with best practice and chemical disposal regulations.

With the exception of the laboratory where the chemicals are being retrieved from, the site will continue to operate as normal over the weekend.

Key facts

• The chemicals are in sealed glass bottles of good condition.
• The chemicals are being disposed of appropriately.
• The materials involved are solvents which are widely used in industry.
• The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team deal with hundreds of these issues every year, recovering chemicals from science laboratories in places like schools, universities and hospitals.
• Because this is happening on the Sellafield site we exercise extreme caution and leave nothing to chance.

Published 27 October 2017